Nothing but Shadows
by Thess
Summary: How would the hunters feel if they became the hunted? After Integral was turned without her consent by a hostile vampire; she, Alucard and Seras find themselves the targets for Iscariot members who won’t stop until they send their damned souls to Hell.
1. Prologue: As dawn arises

Disclaimer: _Hellsing _characters belong to Kouta Hirano and Studio Gonzo.

Author's Notes: This is a post anime set fic (yes, finally I'm writing one of those, despite the manga being far superior) with several manga elements (Yumiko and Heinkel in future chapters). About pairings, there's probably none. Tension will be around as the anime but I don't have plans to anything explicit yet. Anyway, criticism is welcome, keep in mind this is only the prologue.

Special thanks: To keelin who edited this chapter.

* * *

**Nothing but Shadows**

**Prologue **

- **As dawn arises**

Spun, turned the corner, ran. Spun, turned the corner, ran. Spun, turned the corner, ran.

The reflexes were automatic after hours and hours of the same motion. Her articulations were instructed to keep going and to never look back. No matter how tempting it was, if she stopped, if she dared to peer over her shoulder to watch her persecutor, she would be dead. Seras Victoria had placed the stakes too high in the unspoken bet.

She paused a second to draw breath, inhaling deeply the oxygen to fill her dead lungs, before renewing her stroll. Seras was fully aware that she no longer _needed_ to breathe but she _wanted_ to, anyway. Such human acts made her feel less a monster than she had become.

Seras froze her steps, facing a dead end; trapped as a rat inside the silver labyrinth. Everything holy, every object, burnt to her touch.

Ticktock, ticktock, the hands of the antique clock hidden in a corner pointed to twelve. The bells tolled announcing the Witching Hour.

Time to die Seras Victoria, they mocked in her head. The Big Bad Wolf had dressed himself as a Holy Man. Grandmother and the Huntsman could not aid Little Red Riding Hood any longer.

What big arms he had!

All the better to capture her!

What big legs he had!

All the better to chase her!

What a loud laugh he had!

All the better to frighten her!

What long knives he had!

All the better to kill her!

Seras trembled at the sound of the cackling and at the self inflicted phobias that her mind played against her. She would not give up, that is what killed people. But - she had learned that even the mighty could fall. Even the wilful could be crushed in their crusades.

Armed only with her stiff upper lip, she braced herself, ready to face Anderson. She could distinguish his long silhouette charging in her direction. His eyes remained hidden behind the glasses. He was preaching something in Latin or Greek. Seras could not care less; languages had never been her forte.

Swallowing loudly, Seras extended her arms, assuming a defensive posture when her foe threw bayonets towards her. Suddenly a wall appeared in front of her, shielding the attack. Seras sighed in relief. She was safe; Anderson would not find her. No one would know where she was.

She tried to retreat. Another wall blocked her way, from her left and right they popped out. And she screamed until there was no strength in her vocal cords as she hit the sides of the box.

Curiosity killed the cat but merely trapped the kitten.

A crystalline liquid poured inside the small cell. Her skin was set aflame by the contact. Seras cried out in pain as the holy water engulfed her system, until it burnt her tongue and lips before she clawed out her eyes, unable to tolerate the intense pain.

Ding Dong. Game over.

Ding Dong. Seras lost.

--------

Seras' eyelids fluttered open and stirred in a violent manner. She checked her body quickly, hands wandered from her face to her legs. The only liquid was the blood splattered on it that had already dried days ago. She sighed, for an instant she could have sworn her heart started to beat again and was pounding out of her chest. Seras had thought that vampires would not be able to dream. She was obviously mistaken - or she was the exception of the rule.

Her arms were shaking; still affected by the nightmare.

Seras leaned her head further on the moistened wall that supported her body as she was convinced that the dream was nothing but the product of her imagination. _It's not real, Seras_, assured herself, scanning her surroundings full of despair: the dark, murky cell she had occupied for the last few days remained the same. _I can't decide which one is worse, reality or my nightmares_. Tears menaced to fog her vision, as she recalled what happened not so long ago.

Seras Victoria embraced her legs closely and waited for the night to arrive. She loathed waking as the dawn arose.


	2. The Rapture of Sleeping Beauty

**Chapter One **

- The Rapture of Sleeping Beauty

Freedom was an illusion. Rules existed everywhere, tidying people to nature, to social customs, to a religion.

To the memory of a dying relative.

There were times when one could be freer if trapped in a small cell than wandering outside - for in life, bars and four walls only bind the body. An explosion, a jolt in the gates and there would be a route of escape. Traditions, social boundaries and oaths lingered through the entirety of one's existence.

They captured the soul.

That was a cage that Integral Hellsing was well acquainted to, one she did not bother to exit. Once you spent so long inside it, the desire for freedom vanished into a comfortable denial of one's free will.

Nothing could be done, not unless someone destroyed it. Not until reality changed…

Integral had just finished her wine when the music started to play. Her mouth savoured the last remains of an excellent vintage, the flavour no different from those that Her Majesty had sent her during the trial over a year ago; the Queen's secret message to remain strong, to believe. One that Alucard had dared to spoil with his blood; a rather innovative procedure to taint her ruler's support.

Returning the goblet back to the table, Integral lounged on her chair. Her lids dropped for instants, allowing the melody to engross her. Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Waltz. The tunes lulled her to slumber. Resting was indeed a more attractive choice than the boring scenario of dancing couples, although she regained her composure before that were to happen.

People were watching her, giggling and gossiping in secret. How many conspiracies had they invented after the Incognito assault? She would rather she never found out. For their own good.

Integral reached to re-fill her glass. She tolerated the seasons of parties only to diminish the suspicions of her fellow noblemen, suspicions raised by her formerly insolate nature.

Damn, she never had thought she would come to see the day when a lack of attacks would drive her insane.

_If only I could smoke in front of these buffoons_, Integral thought, scanning the mocking guests that shot her a brief glance. But she could not. The support the maintenance of the Hellsing institution received was sparse after the Tower incident; they took special delight in taunting her for her failure and inability to stop Alucard from destroying half of London while fighting Incognito. The fact that vampires had remained hidden and quiet afterwards only made her look quite useless as well.

Had the vampires fled? Or was it a clever strategy to get rid of the potential predator?

_There's a third option to take into consideration_, she reminded herself, toying with her cross pin.

_Iscariot._

Her grip on the pin tightened, her fingers white beneath the gloves. There were indications that could point out their interference; their web of contacts had certainly increased while she had been facing her trial… It was probable that the relatives of victims during 'her previous terrorist attack', either from the police or MI-5 chose to inform the Vatican instead of her.

If that were the case, they would pay dearly for their treachery! Treason earned death, no matter what the laws claimed. The abolition was only in public eyes, and the masses needed to be protected from the truth, the hysteria would be unbearable.

Thoughts about traitors made her remember her dear Judas. He had lost his name in front of her very eyes, divested of his title and rank. He was now a Judas rooting in the nine circle of Hell. The hilarity of all things was that he had claimed that someone whose name he was unable to reveal had fooled him.

Tricked him.

Used him.

_Liar. _

Her Majesty conceded her the honour of executing him herself and she had taken the offer with much gusto. Her lips pursed up in a smirk at the memory of his screams as she had given him to Alucard as a snack, at his rise as a ghoul afterwards, eyes sunken and grey of skin, horrifying to her fellow knights. He was ready to be damned to hell by a single shot of her Walther P.P.K.

_Bang._

Integral Hellsing was not one to take kindly to backstabbers. Had they not learnt their lesson with Uncle Richard?

Her entertaining flashback was interrupted by a hand introduced over her shoulder. She repressed a shiver. Had the temperature of the room dropped?

"It seems my lady is finally smiling…" someone whispered near her ear. It was like a purr, rough and smooth at the same time. "What has happened to your resolution, Miss Hellsing? Didn't you claim that 'A Hellsing will never relish herself in such shallow activities'?"

Integral looked up, throwing daggers at the intruder. She recognized the daring figure. "Oh, it's you again. I said it once and I will say it again, my personal tastes are none of your business and… that's Sir Hellsing to you." She did not move a muscle, expecting -in vain- that he would take the hint and put some distance between his face and her own.

He only leaned further. She wondered if the rest of their company would notice his disappearance if he would missing in future parties.

"How cold you are. After all the time we've seen each others, you still want it that we address one another by our titles?" he asked, though his wounded tone did not convince her. And she was less than thrilled to have his gloved thumb tracing her cheek.

Integral swept his hand away. "All the years you have stalked me without my consent, you mean. And we're not even acquainted," she sneered. "You lacked the manners to introduce yourself."

"Perhaps I did and your memory is sketchy, Sir Hellsing."

Like hell he had. Her memory was fine. She scolded, taking a close look to her admirer. He had a nobleman's features – black hair of shoulder length, grey eyes, a pointy face and full lips. He was indeed handsome; many of the women in attendance to the party always threw envious glances towards her for her fortune.

As good looking as he was, the man was cruel and rude beneath his charming manner. Integral had heard the cases of the public humiliation to which he had exposed to any lady that roamed near him. No one would come unscathed and he took great delight in his insults.

He was one of the main reasons why she avoid gatherings. Always there, hovering over her shoulder, sneaking forbidden touches.

"_Your_ memory is the one that is failing," Integral retorted stubbornly.

"Consequences of age that I'm ashamed of," he replied, bowing and extending his arm. "The waltz is starting again. I suppose you won't grant a piece to this fine gentleman?"

"You supposed correctly."

"May I ask why?"

He inquired with such an innocent aura that very nearly made her laugh. But she refrained from doing so; her features were made of stone, lips in a neutral straight line.

"You know very well, mister. I've listened to the rumours about how low the women that related to you have fallen."

"But you don't have to fear now, do you, Integra? You have arrived at the bottom of disgrace. You have failed," he spat, voice soaked in venom. "Your father must be rolling in his grave."

The words were familiar; she had heard something of semblance over and over again… But when he uttered them, she felt a knife plunging her heart. Her eyes flickered in hurt.

"You are attending to these parties because you've lost yourself. Look at you, pretending it doesn't matter," he laughed cruelly. A few heads turned to watch them, but Integral barely paid heed to them; she was staring at her offender with hatred. "You bowed to them now. How weak you have become."

Weak…

Pathetic…

A failure…

_What would father think of me?_

Her left hand clenched in a fist as it lay on her lap. "Shut up," she ordered frostily. "A good-for-nothing sheltered git like you can't understand the weight of duty and honour." Her pain became hatred; her reluctance fed her determination as always it had - and always it would. "You along with the whole bloody rest of dally here, talking their insipid conversations about golf and jewellery, you all have no moral authority to judge me!"

His features darkened and for a second she thought he was ready to strike her. Instead, to her surprise, he smiled. "Not even on account of this will you break down? I've underestimated you," he indicated, taking her goblet of wine and sipping from it before could snap it back. "Greedy. Not even sharing a few cups with me?"

"Go away," she empathised, drinking the content before he stole it once more. "Mad man."

He bowed executing an elaborate flourish. "Mad man? I'm a traveller, a lawyer, a politician, a charmer," he scoffed. "And I do have a name…"

"I was starting to doubt it." Integral lifted a brow, abandoning the empty goblet on the table. Her head started spinning. Perhaps she had had enough alcohol for a night.

The father clock bells tolled. Midnight. It was hardly late. Why were her eyelids dropping? Her lashes felt heavy, she was unable to lift their weight. Her body fell forward - cold arms ensnared her - lips brushed her ears.

"Twelve o'clock. The spell is lifted. Cinderella's illusion is gone," he whispered, removing the cross pin from her ascot. Her nose wrinkled, smelling smoke. Flesh burnt then nothing. "There's no pretence of humanity anymore."

Cold, a dead man was holding her.

_Vampire!_ She attempted to contact Alucard through the seal, but no words would come out of her mouth; she remained limp as he carried her to one chambers and deposited her over the mattress. Integral was fully aware of what was happening. Whatever substance he had placed in her drink to drug her kept her a prisoner over her shell. Impotent, unable to escape. She struggled.

Wiggle the fingers.

Smile.

Frown.

Anything!

Her body was unresponsive.

Integral agitated when the vampire divested her. Unbuttoning her shirt and jacket, slowly massaging the breasts and toying with her nipples through the brassiere. Tweaking and fingering. It was dreadful, humiliating to be motionless as he ravaged her without doing anything to avoid it. She would have tensed her jaw when his fingers stroke the apex of her legs if she had any domain over her functions.

"I could take you right now, my Sleeping Beauty," he purred, "Running you further but no one would believe it was a willing act on your part, not with your reputation as an iron virgin… perhaps the original version won't suit you… You would rise stronger with it, feeding your delusions of holiness and martyrdom… No, I think not."

Integral's relief at such news were short lived. Soon she felt a well knowing sting on her jugular. Long, cold tongue was prodding the spot dexterously, running over the scar of the last one.

"Therefore, I'll go for the Children's Tale. Sleeping Beauty will be awoken by the kiss of her Prince," he chuckled. "My _own_ brand of kiss that leaves a lasting effect…" he added, nipping the neck and then moving towards her mouth, pressing his lips on hers, demanding her taste. In one way or another. Before he pulled out, Integral's mind and body screamed in wrath as his eye teeth pricked her full skin.

"This is my first time too…" the vampire confessed and laughed as shadows fogged her mind, pulling her to an unreachable Abyss deprived of light.

No sounds.

No colour.

No feelings.

It was cold and dead as she would be.

She barely noticed his wandering hands. Instead, Integral focused on her racing heart, pounding madly on her chest.

The blood sucked out of the system at the swoon would have nearly driven her over the edge of pleasure, if not for her indignation.

Rushing as life escaped her body.

And then silence. Her beat fluttered and faded.

Pain followed the pleasure, and after that a worrisome numb spread through her. She was not there, everything felt so light, like she could fly away, high up the sky. Her body stirred, finally responding to her commands.

Her 'Prince' was gone, leaving her prostrated and with an aching body behind. Sleeping Beauty yawned, dazzled and dizzy for her encounter with the hostile intruder. She recalled fragmented, never the whole of it. She quickly checked her neck for bite marks. None. That was not the only thing that was missing, however…

Her clothes were not there either.

Sleeping Beauty stood with difficulty, her body aching in her drained state. Her hand supported a cold crystal surface. It was not a window or a glass door. A mirror. She looked up and stared at it and the room behind her, her worst fear now confirmed.

The fiend had stolen her reflection.

* * *

I thank Lyanna Kane for her edit, she's so sweet. And to everyone who reviewed, I appreciated the feedback. This famous XIX century vampire isn't my character and belongs to his creator (which I won't reveal for plot sake _yet_). 


	3. Enter Midnight

**Chapter Two**

**- Enter Midnight **

Born as ruler. Raised as predator. Lived as a hunter. Died as a warrior. Rose as a monster.

How ironic that he was now caged like a mere domestic animal, waiting for the Master's return home to ask permission to leave the Mansion grounds. If he were lucky enough, Integral would walk with him or make a place in her apparently busy schedule for their conversations. Alucard smirked. She was avoiding them ever since those four little words had escaped his lips:

_"The choice is yours."_

Integral had never replied - she had just smiled before scolding him for spoiling the Queen's present. Alucard had offered his blood, his power, his immortality and she was angry for a ruined goblet of wine? She knew how to grate on him with the same skill with which he annoyed her. Both had made an art of such subjects, a perverse hobby both enjoyed.

Who would crack first? Who would look away? He anxiously played the game without minding who was the victor. The result was irrelevant; the thrill of the execution was what mattered.

Certainly, Alucard was a sore loser, thus he sought to triumph. How difficult could it be to convince a woman who already acted as a monster to take the final step to glory?

Lazily, he lifted his eyelids, not bothered to move another articulation from his comfortable posture – his elbow supporting the weight of his head and one leg over the other. Alucard nearly chuckled at Seras' attempts to stealthily his room without being noticed. No matter how silently she shuffled on the marble floor, she was his fledgling and he always would know when she was around.

"Going somewhere, Police Girl?" he inquired from his self-appointed throne. The movement stopped and could imagine her wince. "Does Master know where are you heading?"

The door cracked open soon after his question. Almost shyly Seras Victoria entered. She smiled sheepishly. She was not in her blue uniform but in jeans and a green tank top. "Hi, Master," she greeted, "To take some fresh air… Sir Integra doesn't mind as long I don't bring more fanged friends home…"

Alucard snorted, his throaty laughed resounded in his chambers. That was something his Master would warn about since his small rebellion in turning the Police Girl. "You shouldn't lie to your Master," he pointed out, his sunglasses slipping down to the tip of his nose. "You're going to your old home."

"I didn't lie, Master!" Seras defended herself. He was greatly amused by her spirit and challenge. More quiet than Integral's but indeed there. "I never said where I would be taking the fresh air."

"Two things that are for humans and not our kind, Seras. You no longer need fresh air or those old human belongings," Alucard chided with a condescending tone. Seras twitched in response but said nothing. A lost case, indeed. "You haven't drunk your blood either…" he observed, placing a huge disappointment in his tone.

"I forgot… I did drink yesterday, Master…" Seras furrowed her brow, "Or that was two days ago?"

His hands went into his pockets where he pull out two blood bags. "Take them," Alucard ordered, tossing them in her direction. "Don't throw the blood down the drain, Police Girl."

"I don't do that anymore!" Seras caught them and stared at the packets before placing both in her purse. He was amazed how she made things fit inside such a small bag. Perhaps her powers had awakened more than he gave credit for and actually affected the matter. "When will Sir Integra return?" she asked, half turning away.

"As soon she can escape," Alucard stated, nearly annoyed by thinking of the parties.

In the beginning, he had loved to see her displease in attending such gatherings but they became more and more frequent as the attacks and missions decreased. His nights became boring. Seras, despite being a vampire, was hardly an adequate replacement in conversations. Too ethical.

He was utterly bored.

"Hmm, maybe I should leave the cell phone on, just in case there's an emergency," Seras stated, musing at herself.

"If something happens," Alucard lounged once more on his seat. "She'll summon me, Police Girl." He drew his hat down, covering his face.

"Still… you can dial me for aid instead of violating my mind."

"And what's the fun in that? Disregarding your privacy is better," Alucard laughed.

"Good evening, Master," Seras bid farewell, slight flustered, and slammed the door when she exited.

Alucard chuckled; she was so easy to rile. She had so much to learn and he was losing his patience with her slow pace. But lately he let her be -Seras seemed to grow better without his intervention.

If only the blood Seras had licked coming out his mouth had been able to sever the Master and Servant ties both shared… But alas, it had been a rooted sample that did not count. Now he was trapped living with two women who constantly refused his blood.

The greatest irony of all was that they were both the same Integral and Seras were unable to surrender completely to him because of their morals. The first was the perfect predator in mind and soul but she denied vampirism in body. The latter had the physical potential of an Eve of Destruction but she was too wrapped up in that disgusting humanity of hers.

There was the true paradox in their contrasts and similitudes. He had chosen them well. Or wrongly since neither paid heed to his efforts. Alucard blamed their parents. If only they had not made such lasting effect in their lives, he could raise them at his whims.

Alucard straightened his posture, reaching for the bottle on his table to pour the contents into his glass. The liquid was too dark and thick to be mere wine. He put down the bottle and grabbed the goblet, bringing it to his mouth. When no one was looking, he rather preferred the most dignified way to feed.

The cold medical blood was hardly high cuisine but offered nourishment enough. Alucard hoped some _nobling_ offended her enough to make her offer the fool as one of his meals.

_Hmm_, Alucard thought, taking another sip still sitting on his 'throne'. _This place is dead…_The handful of survivors of the personnel were upstairs. Silent, they moved like automata trying to tidy everything before Integral arrived and scolded them.

Idiot humans. So weak and fragile. Especially the babies. The infernal cries and sobs were unbearable to his sensitive senses. The only use they had was as aperitif. **  
**  
Why had his Master had to hire the spouses of the soldiers as maids?

Alucard gave a final stretch before re-settling himself on the couch. He had had this new hobby since the wave of stillness started one of searching more comfortable ways to sit in his own chair and another to guess the number of emptied blood bags he should throw to the ground until someone had the courtesy to clean his room. It was starting to reek.

No one came. Not even when Integral had slipped and nearly fell down.

They were too frightened of him?

Alucard missed Walter. He hoped his old friend would be back from the hospital soon before his Master complained about the stench and forced him to 'search and destroy' the source.

--------

The bus trip had taken longer than Seras had planned After the first hour, she grew bored and started tapping her fingers on her chin. Sixty minutes later, she was not the only one who did not know what to do. A couple of teenagers occupied themselves with snogging behind her seat. She looked through the window, to the streets, unsuccessfully attempting to ignore the kissing noises.

At least the pervert that had sat next to her was long gone. A flash of fangs and glowing red orbs clued him that Seras was no one to mess with. The pair was moaning now - her cheeks reddened. In a public transport no less. If she were still in the force, they would be behind bars for the display.

_Perhaps I should spook them_, Seras pondered. She was ready to make her best 'Queen of the Night' interpretation when the movement of the bus ceased. She looked to corroborate the street name. Her stop. Quickly, she gathered her things and stood, making her way to the exit, glad to leave the odour of sweat and the bubblegum-covered seats behind.

She should have learnt how to drive. But she had never found time. When Sir Hellsing was not busy, Seras promised herself to request a lesson or two. She hoped she would not overstep her boundaries. Integral had been more pleasant and open to her after the incident with Incognito. Was she grateful for her rescue? Or was it just the fact that the new recruits were sparse, rookies and untrustworthy and she had no one else to talk with? Alucard was not a choice, she knew that her leader had been avoiding him, and Walter still remained in the clinic.

_It's over a year_, Seras thought, wondering why the hospital had retained Walter for so long Integral had told her that he felt good and healthy already. No thinking of that now, Seras. _You wanted to take a break from Hellsing, didn't you? _

Suddenly the smell of blood overwhelmed her nostrils. Inwardly, she licked her lips as the beast inside her stirred. Then was a scream, like someone's soul was torn out of the body. Seras looked around her. No one seemed to notice. Was it beyond human hearing? Or were they simply choosing to ignore it? Almost immediately, she headed towards the source of the cries. She retrieved a handgun from her purse, praying she would not be too late.

Seras panted, running through the dark, murky alleys inhabited only by homeless folk with glassy eyes and resigned features. She paid no heed to them, stepping closer and closer to her target. Silence. It was silent now. She diminished her speed, an unseen barrier suffocated her. Her neck tingled, the wounds caused by holy knives re-opened.

_Oh no, no, no…_ Seras thought, unable to continue. Her feet touched a fallen bulge. She looked down and gasped, pupils dilating. A corpse was beneath her, eyes sunken, half denigrating grey skin. His mouth was open wide, enough for Seras to recognize the elongated canines. He burnt at her touch as if it were blessed.

_Iscariot… so that has been hunting the Freaks down…_ Seras heard a noise in front of her but did not bother to check. Fear defeated curiosity. She spun and ran without looking back, passing the broken windows covered with wood and the glances of the inhabitants of the forgotten houses.

She heard footsteps behind her, the sound of something metallic brushing on a sheath. She gulped and kept up her race. Seras Victoria would not die in that lonely alley. Not that night, not like that. She was not ready to face that crazy priest.

_Just a little more_, Seras told herself. She could see the exit, the people laughing and passing without any worries at all. No one feared a bogeyman that filled their bodies with bayonets. No one was frightened of the tall preacher in the corner. As the shadows of the buildings shifted to indicate an open street, Seras' spirits heightened. She would be able to blend with the people without problems. Relieved, she hid her handgun.

The eerie footsteps also lost themselves in the multitude of citizens, unrecognisable now. Seras looked around her, attempting to spot the imposing figure of Anderson. She would not leave until she was certain that he had lost her track. A hand probing her shoulder cut her searching. Seras slowly turned around. To her relief, she did not find the Paladin but a timid-looking nun. She was Asian, wore glasses and innocently smiled at her.

"Excuse me, Miss. But you dropped this," the sister said, handing her the cell phone.

She had forgotten to close her purse on the run! "Thank you so much, sister!" she replied, taking the offered phone and checked if it was functional. "Where did you find it?"

"I'm a missionary, Miss," the sister replied, "I had a task with the poor homeless." Her face contorted in grief. Seras' suspicion of an agent of Iscariot was diminished. The nun looked inoffensive.

"Take care, Sister. It's a perilous neighbourhood," Seras recommended. "Bye and thanks again!"

The nun bowed and shook her head; her hand trembled as if she were nervous. "It's a pleasure to aid those in need. God bless you, Miss." And then she returned to the alley very fast. What was she running from?

Before Seras turned to leave, she took a final glimpse at the kind sister. Her eyes widened slightly – there were drops of blood splattered on the edge of her dress.

--------

Alucard stretched for the sixth time since Seras had left. Despite himself, he was starting to miss her presence. She made a bad vampire but he was bored out of his mind alone in the basement.

The night was in all its splendour outside. He could sense everything - see through the animals' eyes. The breeze was moving the branches of the trees and the moon shone above in morbid glory. A perfect evening to hunt.

From his post, Alucard heard the bells of the grandfather clocks a floor over him tolling. He thought it was a pity that Big Ben had not been reconstructed yet after his little…clash with Incognito. But sacrifices must be made. He counted the sounds until they died out and the Mansion was left in silence once again.

_Enter midnight_, Alucard mused, _And here I am. A No Life King grounded inside like a dog._ He laughed voraciously, remembering the last time Integral had forbidden him to come out and play in the courtyard. His 'Hound of the Baskervilles' stunt had not amused her at all.

Alucard reached for his half empty goblet of blood, eager for a few drops of the precious elixir, when a sharp pain shot through his body. It was so powerful that it forced him to drop the glass. He attempted to search for the source of it but his mind was blinded by the waves of some piece of himself escaping out of his system… Vanishing… Fading… Burning out…

He twisted on his chair.

Alucard gritted his teeth. His hands burnt. His gloves were shining as the Hellsing sygil glowed on the walls of the room, lifting from his white cloth until it was gone. Only then could he open his eyes and see as a free vampire for the first time in more than a century.

He was unable to feel Integral anymore. A mixture of dread, excitement and anger bathed him. What had just happened? Alucard was a tad confused about how to act. He had dreamt about this day but now he only could remain motionless, unable to take advantage and action. But he also had imagined he would have Integral chained at his feet when he recovered his Masterhood.

But it did not matter, did it? Details, details.

He was no longer a slave or a servant. Not a bloody pet for human Masters. He would now wreak chaos everywhere once more. He laughed at that idea, of sitting on a throne surrounded by impaled corpses.

His infernal smirk faltered. If he had achieved freedom, Integral must have died. Alucard gave a growl that frightened all the inhabitants of the house. She was under his protection; no one should have laid a finger on her again. It was a fluke; he had failed.

Alucard rose from his chair. Vengeance was what he claimed now. Someone had taken away his chance for retribution to the line. His work for a decade. His little girl. They would pay for it; he would make sure. He had access to all his power now.

But when he tried, he could not summon any demon. Only the wolves of the zoo answered his call, howling and gnawing at the ill tended bars.

Why did he feel so weak? Where were his ultimate abilities, the ones that old Abraham and Arthur had given him?

"The seal function is not sealing your power, Alucard. Your power is always free for you to use but it does guard the power we granted you as well with part of your will," he remembered Arthur explaining three decades ago. "As long as a Hellsing is your Master, the seal will be with you."

Alucard lounged on his chair once more, grinning bitterly at the speech. He should have known there was a catch for his abilities. Without the seal, without the powers it granted him, he was no longer the ultimate undead.

Everything had a price, even his freedom. If Alucard had known, he would have not been so eager to purchase it.

--------

Seras awoke on the kitchen floor of her apartment. It seemed forever since the wave of pain had left her listless. She checked her body. She was not wounded. If it was not her…

_Something must have happened to Master_, Seras concluded. She was not concerned, and attempted to get up. Her legs were shaking from the small effort. No one rushed to see what was going on. The building she used to live in was empty except for a few floors far from hers.

It was a blessing in disguise, otherwise her neighbours would be shocked they saw the 'missing in action' policewoman walking to her apartment with normally. Nor had she known them for a time, Seras had just moved to London when she had been transferred to the D-11 a month before the mission in Cheddar had occurred.

Seras sat down, taking a break to recover her strength while glancing at the picture of her childhood with her father. _What should I do?_ she asked him, knowing he would not reply. Sir Hellsing must have the same monologues with the portrait of her predecessor, or that was what Seras liked to think. _Time to contact with my other 'father.'_

"Master?" Seras called to him aloud. "Master, are you okay?"

Nothing. Was he playing at being difficult again? She sighed and leaned on the seat. The digital version of a Beethoven tune sounded from her purse. Her cell phone, someone was calling. Seras opened the bag and tracked the number. She did not know it. "Yes? Hello?" she answered, hesitantly.

"Senior Officer…"

Integral… it sounded like Sir Hellsing… but there was something strange in her voice. "Sir? Are you-"

"Listen to me carefully," Integral replied, interrupting her question. "You know where the party was, don't you? Come to retrieve me at once. Look for an open balcony window and slide in. Search for me by following my scent… I'm on the second floor…"

"Sir… what's going on?" Seras asked, blinking in confusion. Why had she not summoned Alucard? Something was very, very wrong.

"I can't explain this now, Officer! Just follow my instructions! And bring me fresh clothes to change into and a packed of blood."

Blood? Clothes? What kind of wild party had Sir Integral attended?

* * *

Author's Notes: Thanks TeaRoses for editing this chapter! And to everyone who reviewed. 


	4. Two Hundred Forgotten Pages

**Chapter Three **

- Two Hundred Forgotten Pages

"Wait here, please," Seras told the taxi driver as she descended the vehicle, carrying a bag with the blood and clothes Sir Integral had requested. "I'll be right back." The man did not ask any probing questions; she had paid him to keep his mouth shut. Police Girl had taken a few minutes to change into her D-11 uniform, one of the spare ones she had hidden in her apartment out of the sentimentalism her Master disliked so much. It was easier to enter if she pretended she was carrying out a mission.

_Did I take that long?_ Seras thought, lowering her shades with her free hand to assessed the Mansion. The building was dark and quiet as she moved into the courtyard; there were no traces of any party that had been held except for the lingering smell of alcohol and sweat coming from inside. Cautiously, she rang the bell and waited to be greeted. Seras had memorized a speech to use in situations like this; she was not going to sneak on a balcony like she was a mere thief. The problem was getting out of there with Sir Hellsing when she found her. But she was certain her leader had a plan.

After a few minutes of waiting and no response, Seras tried again – twice, in fact. No one answered those times either. _I hope I'm not trespassing_, she mused concernedly as she attempted to open the gates. The door was unlocked and Seras slid inside the Mansion. The sensation of being watched grew with each step. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked around in order to locate the source of her paranoia. She found no one; she was alone in the hall. Shrugging, she made her way up the spiral staircase. Integral had told her she was upstairs, hadn't she?

_There's no one else here_, Seras assured herself when the overwhelming sensation of being watched returned. To be sure, she expanded her senses. She did not hear any human heartbeat. The closest one was the driver waiting for her in that cab.

Seras froze in her tracks. No heartbeats, none at all. Troubled by that revelation, her mouth fell open. _Am I too late? Please no, I can't be late!_ she thought horrified. "Sir Integral!" Seras exclaimed, rushing on her way, following the feminine tobacco scent of her boss until she arrived at a room near the end of the corridor of the second floor. Agitated, she opened the door with a swift kick, fearing the worse. Her eyes widened at the sight.

Integral was standing in front of a mirror, looking pale despite of her naturally tanned skin. Her clothes were reduced to pieces on a side of the bed, and she was nude except for the sheet that covered her body. "Finally." Seras was relieved just to hear her, ignoring the exasperated tone of her chief's voice. "You took your time, Senior Officer."

"S-sorry, Sir! The Mansion was far away from my former location!" Seras saluted, unable to take her eyes from Integra's form. It was not that she was ogling; she was actually attempting to figure out what was wrong with her superior.

Integral turned around and walked in her direction with closed eyes. "No excuses, Victoria," she addressed her agent, stopping a few inches away. Seras noted the knight was not looking at her. She was staring at her bag instead.

"Here is what you as-" Seras told her, offering her the bag. She could not finish her sentence. Integral took the package from her hands in the blink of an eye. Taken aback, Seras watched silently as Integral removed the clothes, tossing them to the bed and grabbed the blood with hunger in her grey eyes.

_Grey?_ Seras' jaw fell as her eyes travelled from the image of Integral's hungry feeding to the mirror. There was no one in the room. Nothing was reflected on the surface. _Oh dear_. The revelation sank into her. She had realized beforehand but her own denial had rendered her unable to grasp the truth.

No heartbeat.

Lack of reflection.

Thirst for blood.

Abnormal eyes.

Sir Integral was a vampire!

_Master won't be too happy about this…_

-

Unlike the former Mansion where the party had been held, the Hellsing Organisation was anything but quiet. Alucard had lost control for the first two hours after the waning of the seal and focused on destroying his dead Master's property in mindless rage. He growled and broke the closed doors standing in his way, crushing furniture with his legs and throwing away whatever was neatly ordered: paintings, vases… The staff did not dare to step closer to him, let alone stop the vampire. The chaos overwhelmed his mind without Integral's ordered presence to quench it. There was also the lost of his godlike powers, and how impotent he felt in comparison with the comfortable No Life King position he had experienced for a century.

He was free and thirsted for blood. His eyes glowed with a malign crimson light as the noise of the personnel's children reached his ears. Alucard smirked, licking his fangs, recalling how the blood of the infants tasted. His Brides used to be addicted to it; feasting on them was one of the few activities in which they allowed him to participate. Alucard headed to the source of the weeping, devastating whatever was in his path with one thing on his mind: Kill. But once he was over the cradle, casting his shadow over the pitiful excuse of a human being deposited in it, he stopped his motions, disgusted with himself.

Would he lower to the level of those punks again just because he was less powerful?

_The old man was right_, Alucard thought about Abraham van Helsing, departing from the room without touching a single hair of the babe. _I did have a child-mind._ But he was no longer like that, he had more dignity now and not even his losses would strip him of that as well.

Alucard avoided the prying human eyes from the house as he sat before the fireplace, refraining from pulling them out of their sockets. They were Integral's servants, thus they belonged to him now. He was the new Master of Hellsing Manor and it was improper to kill the subordinates without a good excuse. _Impalement sounds like a good tool to convince them to work for me_, he thought, laughing at his own clever plan, but it was mirthless. He felt no joy; strange, that. Only anger and confusion. Yet he restrained himself to avoid sinking to the FREAK vampires' level. The ignited flames danced over his eyes as he schemed his revenge against the one who took his Master and strength out of his reach. Within those ponderings, he listened to Seras' weak voice speaking to his mind.

_'Master? Master? Are you there…?'_

Alucard chuckled, the girl was able to use telepathy when she was in dilemmas. _Police Girl_, he addressed her, thoughts clearer now to muster that ability himself. _Where are you?_

_The courtyard,_ was her response before it faded into silence.

Alucard scolded her, she must have not drunk her blood after all. And he was adjusting to the change of being able to sense her presence in a wide range. After rising, he moved to the main, shooing the butler who was just attending the door. He passed through it with some difficulties and gazed at the taxi disappearing on the road between the woods, then at the former passengers. He paid little attention to Seras, his focus was the tall woman dressed in a long purple skirt and a black blouse whom Seras was helping to walk.

_It cannot be_. Alucard's eyes widened and his jaw tensed as he recognized her features and her scent, even if that wretched leech had dared to mark her with his. "Master?" he ventured. "Integra?"

Integral looked up, locking her eyes with his. They were dead grey. The signature of a bloodline that was not his. That drove him near the edge. "Alucard," she nodded, tone collected and cold. His mere name spoken through her lips soothed his madness and chaos. "Stop staring and help me," she ordered. "I'm still rather weak after losing so much blood."

Alucard smirked widely at her attitude and complied, snagging Integral out of Seras' grasp into his arms, picking up the Hellsing and carrying her inside the house. Both Police Girl and Master did not find this amusing, for different reasons. "If you insist," he murmured, chasing away the wrath with her presence. Without the seal, Alucard had to get skin contact to feel as close as before. His peaceful demeanour twisted when he smelled the other vampire's odour, not only on her neck but on other parts of her body. It was his fault, he had failed in his duty to protect her, he was a monster but one of word.

Alucard abhorred failure. The fiend would pay, he vowed to himself as he slammed the door after Seras rushed to come inside.

And he would enjoy every second of it.

-

Alucard had finally stopped watching her. He had been observing her for the past two weeks after she confined herself in the basement. Integral sensed him; his presence was familiar, and without his godlike power, he could not conceal himself so well in the shadows.

"Are you coming to hunt with me this time?" Alucard had asked for the last time that day. Integral did not pay heed to him and continued her self-appointed task. "As you like," he had nearly growled before fading.

Alucard's behaviour had shifted from protective to disgusted once he had discovered her condition. Integral suspected her former servant was frustrated with his own impotence, something she could relate to very well, for she had shared the horrible feeling. But the Hellsing would not allow herself to be distracted by his conversations, she had something to do. And she would accomplish it alone.

Integral was researching her state, trying to figure out the location of the monster who had turned her by recurring to her ancestor's rituals. Aside from attaining her freedom, it was the top priority at the moment. She had tried the laboratory, the torture chamber, and now she was seeking any useful information in the archives of Abraham van Helsing's former personal office. No luck so far. Exasperated, she slammed the drawer in frustration, indifferent if her strength shattered the wood of the ancient desk.

_Nothing at all!_

Integral wanted to find a way around her status of servitude without needing the willingly offered blood from her cursed Master's veins. Alucard had told her that her quest was pointless but she would not give up. If she was eager to murder the bastard who damned her, Integral must be free first and foremost. Or she would die with him.

Outside the dark office, someone timidly knocked, disturbing her grim demeanour. Integral waited a minute to collect herself, then she opened the door. A blood bag was deposited on her feet, and she heard rushed, clumsy footsteps going upstairs. Her personnel suspected her vampirism. Integral had not been careful enough during the first days of her plight, acting like a newborn child lost without parents. And she was one of those in undead terms. The fact that she had missed dinner and barely was seen in daylight was a rich source of gossip.

"They are leaving, Sir Integral. They are afraid of Master and you," Seras had told her when she dropped by yesterday, concerned about her state. "What should I do?"

Integral had not replied, she did not know. Her reasoning was not working as usual, occupied by the obsession of hunting down the vampire who had robbed her mortality. Furthermore, half of the time she found herself forgetting what she was doing, like awaking from a hypnotic trance.

"It's him. He's controlling you," Alucard had nearly been unable to contain his snarl. "Master vampires can take over the servant's mind and body if they wish. No matter how wilful you are. Coward. Taunting us in this way…"

Integral picked up the bag and quickly entered, shutting and locking the door. Her fangs ripped the plastic unceremoniously, and she drank the blood as fast as she could. Little by little, strength returned to her. It was a sad sight that someone of her status was reduced to drinking cold blood in a dark room. But she could not be trusted around others; that was another reason she was down there by herself. God only knew what she had done during all those dreadful hours she spent as a puppet.

Integral hated to admit that she was afraid… and that for the first time in her life she had nearly had a nervous breakdown. They could take away everything - her life, her honour, her loved ones, her organisation... But the one thing that her soul dreaded to lose was her self-control. The ultimate humiliation, as she called it.

Integral removed her gloves and threw them to the floor. They had been stained by her messy eating. The knight had grown indifferent to her personal looks. She had not taken a shower in over a week and she did not change clothes unless Seras remembered to deliver a fresh suit, which she had not in four days. Her hair and garb were covered with dust and stains but she did not release an unpleasant odour. She was dead, after all. She did not sweat.

She was starting to miss the unpleasant body function.

_None of that. There's no time to mourn for meaningless things_, Integral thought, steeling her nerves as she tossed the now empty package to the trash bin. It landed with accuracy on top of the rest. At least her sight had improved and she did not need light to be able to move inside the office that lacked electricity.

Integral spun around and glanced at the desk. The jolt she had given to the drawer had broken the wood. The container now was on the ground, beside the opposite wall, and the items in it were spilled over the room. She felt embarrassed to have inflicted an act of violence on a piece of furniture unrelated with her problems. It was indeed immature. But the lack of firing range practice had increased her stress and levels of irritation.

_There is nothing useful here,_ Integral pondered, stepping closer to the desk again and gazing down the drawers. She had checked all, there were merely annotations of Alucard's behaviour and progress she had read countless times when she was a teenager. She was about to leave when the knight cast a final glance on the table. Her eyes narrowed, noticing something unusual on it. From the hole she had opened with her violence, she could distinguish the interior of the desk, more specifically, the shades of the woods. It was darker and smelled older.

Curious, Integral slid her hand inside the slit and knocked it. It was empty. She bent to see beneath the table. The section she was touching appeared to be made of a block of solid wood from that angle.

_A secret container? For what purpose?_

Intrigued, Integral hit the wood with her closed fist twice. Her hand went through the layer of the desk easily and started to explore the box. Soon, her fingers brushed a delicate and soft material. She trailed the rectangular shape of it and felt the edges of the pages.

_Could it be a book?_

Integral grasped the object carefully and brought it out. It was a black leather notebook without title or indication of what it was. The pages were yellow and fragile, so she took an extreme caution in opening it, afraid they would disintegrate. The ink printed in the pages was blurred, and difficult to read in several spots as if someone had spilled tea on them. _Or tears…_

Her eyes focused on the beginning of the selected page and started to read.

"15 December. Amsterdam - My son is dead…"

Integral paused, eyes widening slightly. This was her grandfather's journal. Before his trip of London, his old days. During her childhood, she had gathered Abraham was no one for journals until Dracula's capture but it seemed she had been wrong. Why it was hidden? For what purpose?

As tempting as the discovery was, Integral had better things to do. Deeming her present and future more important than the past, she was about to place the journal back to the desk when her body paralysed.

_'Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it, Sleeping Beauty,'_ a male voice whispered inside her mind.

"Where are you!" Integral shouted, glaring at the empty office as a malign laugh filled her thoughts. It was colder than Alucard's, and less deep. "Who are you!" The laughter ceased and her right hand reached for the journal without her consent. Integral blinked. Why? Why did he want her to read the diary? _Fine, it seems that's the only real clue I have of his identity_, the knight mused as she counted the pages absently. Two hundred in total, two hundred forgotten pages of her ancestor's past.

She was not going to read all of them. By instinct, or rather by the infuriating culprit who subconsciously guided her, Integral started reading in a place a couple of pages after the middle. She did not have a choice in the matter.

* * *

Author's Notes: I will like to thank my reviewers for the feedback and specially to kitsunelover, who kindly edited this chapter. 


	5. The Man with Dead Grey Eyes

**Chapter Four  
- The Man with Dead Grey Eyes**

"13 November, Haarlem I cannot express my anxiety at having returned at my birthplace. For years I have been deprived of the pleasure to walk these rustic streets, even when, as now, winter starts to frost the land, covering it with its white, snowy mantle. Things have not changed very much. New factories have opened, thank God; the dreadful economy was one of the reasons why I moved to Amsterdam. Also, the population increased quite a bit. There are far more children playing outside, scarves hiding their very noses! Noel watched them with nostalgia as we made our way to the City Hall. Surely he recalls his own childhood in the Capital, trapped in studies and with little time for boyish games. My heart aches for him; he is very lonely, and perhaps I did not do well in pushing him so hard towards schoolwork and therefore restricting his social life.

'Our boy is almost a man, Bram,' Florence commented to me with a sigh, her dark eyes glinting with motherly pride. She reached to neat his blazer; Noel scoffed and swept her hand away, meaning to do it himself. Oh, the child has indeed grown, inheriting his mother's eyes and hair, aside for her fragile build. His features bear a semblance to those of a cherub: feminine traits that would eventually disappear with the decades. He will be fetching to the ladies, just as his father used to be! He is only ten and seven and already he mourns for the childhood he wasted in a metropolis rather than enjoying the countryside. My poor Noel.

I have also noted there are new taverns. I vow to go alone there, after Florence and Noel settle down in my family's house, and drink Jopen Koyt to my heart's content.

"Father," Noel spoke, interrupting my cravings for the dark beer, "is that the Teylers Museum you told me about?" He gestured to a building across the street. Now, I used to spend most of my time as a youth losing myself in the natural history museum, staring in awe at fossils and trying to guess what they were. Yes, it was the same building, with the two floors filled with marvels and our flag waving proudly in the front.

'Indeed it is.'

'Perhaps we should take a tour, father. I am anxious to see the _Archaeopteryx lithographica_ specimen that is part of their exposition,' Noel proposed in the excited tone of a true fossil lover. I expected him to be more interested in the human mind or medicine, but it would seem my son has chosen be become a palaeontologist.

'If your mother doesn't mind, Noel,' I said, looking at Florence. She is a lover of culture and human arts and not one to admire nature all that keenly.

She smiled good-naturedly and nodded. 'You two do that. You may lose yourself in your endless conversations regarding bones or flesh, for all I care. I am not interested to hear a word about it. You two can come for me later, I shall wait for you in the Frans Hals Museum.'

'Madam, we shall do as you want,' I replied, taking her hand and kissing it gently, enjoying the soft wool of her glove against my frozen lips. 'Come with me, son.' We both settled and left Florence, speaking endlessly of bones and flesh inside the Museum, as my wife had predicted would be our liking…"

-

Integral read aloud, leaning on the shattered desk. As if possessing a will of their own, her hands passed a page from the same day entry and continued…

-

"The blizzard increased with every minute and both Noel and I were trapped inside the museum. My concerns for Florence's circumstances were soothed by my son's gentle pat.

'I am sure mother was also advised to walk undercovered with this weather.'

I merely nodded, praying for her safety. I felt remorseful to let her go alone; we should have stayed together, and then nothing bad would have happened. It was in that moment when, to everyone's surprise, someone knocked at the door. The caretaker hesitated to open the gates, but at the second knock, he was forced to do so. How could he deny shelter to a traveller lost in the snow?

'Who could it be, father?' Noel asked me as he ushered me closer to the door to apprehend the newcomer's identity. The gentleman, and I assess him as such due to the high and no doubt costly quality of his clothes, seemed to be in his late twenties. His were aristocratic features: thin lips, black hair, a jaw line both strong and sharp, an unhealthily pale skin (which I then theorized must have been from the unbearable cold outside) and his eyes… his eyes were so hollow that the mere memory horrifies me even as I write these words. Dead grey eyes.

My horror was not shared. My son seemed fascinated by the willowed lord.

The caretaker moved to close the door, but the man stopped him, blocking his path with his black cane. 'It's not necessary, I am leaving soon,' he murmured with a hypnotic quality I often applied to my patients. The poor man was compelled to obey and made no further attempt to shut the gates. He turned to us, smiling pleasantly and bowing his head. 'You must be Abraham and Noel van Helsing. A pleasure good sirs. I am the Earl of Marsden.'

'English?' I wondered aloud. He certainly had the accent of some of my British students.

'No, but I have lived a long time in England,' the Earl explained.

'How do you know us?' Noel ventured, genuinely curious, and though his tone may have seemed rude, the Earl did not reproach it. I must admit that I wanted to know that as well. While I am famous in my field, I am not easily recognized on mere sight.

'You have your mother's eyes, dear boy,' the Earl replied, grasping Noel's chin. He shivered when the spidery fingers closed there but said nothing. 'I recently met her in the Frans Hals Museum. Charming lady, she mentioned the two of you during a conversation on the _Regents and Regentesses of the Oudemannenhuis_ masterpiece. She grew concerned for your sakes when the blizzard started.' He released Noel and made a grand gesture towards the door. 'She's waiting for you in my carriage. Shall we?' He left without knowing our answer.

Noel looked at me; he was bewildered by the strange individual, yet he waited for me to do the first move. I nodded and followed the Earl of Marsden. When I stepped outside, I wisely shielded my face from the blowing wind, which was so strong that it nearly lifted me to the air. I looked in front of me, certain that my eyes should were betraying me, for the Earl was walking as if were a sunny day… without any difficulties.

'A little further on, Professor van Helsing. Take my hand,' the Earl's voice called me, willing my legs to make the effort to continue until I reached the coach. I accepted his ungloved hand and slid inside the carriage. The feel of him was impossibly cold and not even the icy weather had frosted my bones as finely as the contact with this fellow's skin. I wanted to turn and see if Noel could manage, but the Earl stopped me.

'I will go for him,' he assured, beckoning me to sit down beside Florence, who took my hand and squeezed it.

'Listen to him, Bram. The Earl has been very kind to me.'

The Earl returned soon, aiding Noel in his climbing and warmed himself inside his vehicle before he closed the door. 'Your wife has given the driver your address, Professor,' he indicated. His smile revealed pearl white teeth, with an abnormal length, which convinced me that the man likely suffered of some disease. Sometimes the noble and royal lines fell prey to haemophilia and similar afflictions due to their inbreeding. 'The weather has been most ungentle in Haarlem from the past two days,' he pointed out, sitting beside Noel, on the opposite seat.

'Do tell. A sign of a hard winter,' Florence muttered, shooting a concerned look towards Noel. His teeth had been clacking since he had entered.

'I suspect the same,' the Earl agreed, taking his cloak and offering it to Noel. 'Wear this, dear lad. I am far more accustomed to the cold.' Noel grasped the cloth with a trembling hand and nodded.

'Thank you, Earl, I appreciate it.'

'Do you study palaeontology as your mother claimed?' He interrogated.

'He does,' I intercepted, for my son was at the edge of passing out.'And he is an excellent student, very advanced in his treaties on the natural arts.'

'Most fascinating. I am also interested in that area: nature and fossils,' he laughed. I am certain he did not mean for his laughter to appear as sinister as it did; the temperature of the room dropped until he stopped, at the same time with the carriage. 'Here we are. It's a pity that we must part ways: your family is very charming, Professor van Helsing.'

'I am a fortunate man.'

Florence stood, heading to help Noel, but he appeared to have recovered as soon as he had tried on the borrowed cloak.

'And a lovely view you must have to the Spaarne,' the Earl pointed out, looking through the window. The river could not be discerned because of the blizzard. 'In better weather conditions, that is.'

'I beg that you should forgive my interruption,' Florence pointed out in a firm tone. 'But it's better we descend now before the storm worsens.'

'Earl, here is your-' Noel said, starting to take out the cloak, but the nobleman patted his shoulder, shaking his head.

'Keep it, Noel,' he suggested, leading him towards the door. 'It gives me an excuse to visit you later when I retrieve it. If you don't mind, Professor.' He looked at me, tipping his hat. I tried to hold his gaze but I found myself looking away. His eyes were horrible.

'I have nothing against it. Noel needs a friend to spend his time with during our family visit,' I replied, offering my arm to Florence, who wrapped her own around it very tightly. 'Good day, Earl and thank you for your help.'

'Farewell, Professor, Madam, Noel. It was my pleasure,' the Earl smirked and opened the door.

I descended first alongside Florence. Noel took a while to come behind us, he had delayed inside the coach, but he eventually did and followed us to the doorstep. Anna opened the door; she was surprised to see us arrive, given the weather. Oh how she had aged! Only her smile remained the same. The teenager that looked after me when I was a young lad now had grey hairs and wrinkled skin around her eyes. She invited us in and rushed upstairs to find us warm blankets."

-

Integral closed her eyes, stopping her reading at once. She felt it again, the strange urge to pass over certain pages. Her attempts to fight the influence were useless and her mind was also distracted with thoughts of her fiend's identity. _The Earl of Marsden… It sounds oddly familiar…_ She brushed that off and renewed her task, scanning the yellowed pages filled with messy ink and her ancestor's dreadful handwriting.

-

"15 November. Haarlem Today the blizzard was thankfully over. I was welcomed by the soft sunlight and my wife's beautiful smile when I awoke. She has caught a mild cold. I suggested it was wisest of her to stay at home a couple of days. A most unfortunate event, for I could not take Noel to De Adriaan as I had promised.

'Stay in bed,' I whispered to Florence's ear after she sneezed. 'I will bring you breakfast.' She kissed a corner of my lips and sunk herself among the pillows. I got out and changed into old garbs, so old that the sewing once used to fix several parts could be easily spotted. I did not have the intention to part with the house nor to greet guests until the bell rang. I was upstairs and upon nearing the staircase, I saw Anna inviting a tall, pale man in, a man I recognized immediately: the Earl of Marsden.

Cursing, I returned to my quarters to try on one of my better suits. Florence lifted her head to study my doings. 'We have a guest, dear. Your Earl is here. I will greet him, don't worry.'

'Oh… all right. Give the Earl my deepest apologies.'

I smiled softly at her and exited, hurrying down stairs, following the voices towards the sitting room. The Earl was there, sitting in front of Noel. Both were engaged in some lively discussion while drinking what smelled like coffee. My son was smiling brightly at the pale nobleman. I paid no heed to his words, rather focused in the study of my guest. His face was still stained white, and I realized it was not a consequence of the blizzard's unnatural cold. He looked unhealthy. I cleared my throat when I entered the room.

'Professor van Helsing,' the Earl said, standing and bowing before returning to his place.

'Father,' my son greeted, inclining his head.

'Good morning,' I replied, taking my place, between Noel and the Earl. 'Florence requested that I should apologize on her behalf. She's mildly ill and cannot greet you, Earl.'

'Father, the Earl proposed that we visit the windmill with him,' Noel told me, his eyes gleaming on joy. 'Can I?'

'Certainly, son,' I told him with the gentlest tone. How can a father deny such a simple happiness to a child? His doubts about his freedom perturb me. Maybe I was too strict during his education and schoolwork. 'But I hope you won't intrude in the Earl's time.'

'It's a pleasure to show the marvels of this town, professor.' His lips pursed up in a frightening smile. I brushed away this unnatural fear. I am starting to abhor the nobleman. He has been so polite and kind towards my family, I do wonder on the irrational origin of such sentiments. 'My stay here has been quite lonely.'

'Where is your family?'

'My blood relatives died long ago,' he answered in a dark tone. I mistakenly assumed it was malice. Now, writing these pages I realize he must have been overwhelmed and trying to hide his emotions. 'I was married once, but she died. A disease of her blood. My wife's brother was my best friend and companion, and yet he turned mad due to his sister's circumstances, suffering a heart attack after her demise. The doctors in England aren't as skilled as yourself, Professor van Helsing.'

'That's terrible. I apologize for bringing up bad memories,' I said immediately. The news gloomed my day, the finest gentry have to suffer the most horrible experiences. It makes you wonder about fairness in life. I am ashamed to keep thinking ill of the Earl, as I am a fortunate man, in good health and with a loving family. I wish he shared my luck.

Noel grew silent and even stopped sipping his coffee, staring intensely to the unfortunate Earl.

'That was years ago, Professor and I am trying to start again,' the man confessed in high spirits. 'Having a travel companion who can point out the marvels of the natural world is my priority.' Noel smiled softly. 'Shall we depart now?'

I nodded and stood with them. 'Try to return before dinner. Florence might want to see you, Earl.'

'I shall.'

'Good bye, father,' Noel bid farewell as I walked them towards the door, watching them leave and descend the staircase until they reached the ground. My son turned and inclined his head before following the pale nobleman. I stared at them until my eyes could not see them anymore and entered, recalling that my beloved was waiting for breakfast to be brought to her bed."

-

Integral made another pregnant pause, wanting to keep reading. Her hands passed the pages, choosing which passages she could scan into in her place. In the following hour she read about the growing closeness of Noel and the Earl of Marsden. The number of their meetings had increased, which was something that had baffled Abraham, as his son had not been social before that. Noel even neglected the Church mass service in order to favour his friend.

She read about how her ancestor followed him in the City Hall celebration, how he spied on their strolls, the two being often alone or at times accompanied by a green eyed, blonde haired lady. Noel had not been the only issue that worried Abraham: he expressed his misery at the sudden coldness Florence developed towards him. With the exceptions of two days, there were no entries, just empty pages. Her index digit trailed the former selected page and ushered herself to renew the reading. It was harder for the handwriting wavered, her fingers pressing on the surface of the dried paper, where tears had dripped long ago.

-

"15 December. Amsterdam - My son is dead… My Noel, my boy and my one pride has passed away. These same hands have put an end to his existence!

And Florence, oh my beloved wife, she is mad! Her body and mind have been tainted and put beyond medical reach. She babbles and laughs alone, she eats bugs and frightens everyone in her path.

I cannot bear to write full descriptions of what has happened… perhaps in the future when my heart allows me to continue to narrate such personal losses in an analytical way and my memory recalls the details of the events that nearly destroyed me completely.

I only have this to say: Monsters exist! They prey on the living, taking their blood, fooling them with their charm, swallowing their souls and sanity! I could go an on with the descriptions I have found about these fascinating - yet terrible - creatures but it's neither the time, nor the place.

That wretched Earl of Marsden, or whatever the real name of the fiend, has taken my loved ones from under my very nose!

'Noel and I part to Greece,' the demon told me when he greeted me, his eyes flashing his malice, his teeth elongating. 'I _suggested_ to your son to bid farewell to his mother in a way that she should recall him forever.'

I heard the screams and the moans, I listened the rocking of the bed - my son ravaging his own mother against her will upstairs. It was like a dagger that pierced my heart and made it bleed. It's still bleeding and the wound shall never heal completely.

I tried to aid Florence, to break the devilish spell that was placed upon my son but the thing was blocking my way. 'Tut, tut, tut,' he murmured as if it were one grand jest, blocking my path to their salvation. 'You needn't worry about the tart that is you wife. Your son is better than her in bed. I am certain he will teach her something new. I explored both them completely.'

My hands closed in fists and I committed the mistake to give in fury and lounged over the beast. He was stronger than me and swigged me across the room before releasing me to hit a wall. My body collapsed, bruised and shaken, my mind fought for consciousness and lost to the jolt of the back of my head. Everything was darkness and when I awoke, they were gone.

I went for Florence, and I will spare myself a description of her pitiful state. Tears fogged my vision, tears that have not yet stopped to shed even now as I write the terrible events, as my hand shakes and I don't have the strength to stop it. I tranquillised her for her sake and my peace, then I put her in the care of Anna whilst I hunted the beast – vampires, that is how he referred about his species.

I was aware where they would travel before going to Greece – Amsterdam. I tracked them down until I surprised my son alone. I had read about vampires in the borrowed books of the University library. Before, I had thought the metaphysical art was rubbish. Now I have opened my eyes to new ways to expand my knowledge. A pity such knowledge was born of this tragedy.

I found my son locked in the hotel room the Earl had rented. I waited for the beast to leave before entering his chambers. There were two caskets, one silent and another shaking. Noel was trapped inside his coffin, banging at the lid without success. Brandishing my sword, I opened the lid, then took a pair of steps back and shielded myself with my crucifix.

Noel emerged, his eyes no longer of Florence's candid brown, but now bright green like the monster that sired him. But most importantly, they were pleading and he was crying. 'Father! Go away! He will find out! He will force me to harm you too!' He warned in such desperate tone. 'Oh mother. What I have done? Forgive me… I have fallen and I am impure, yet I hold no remorse for my choice!'

'He did this to you. He will pay after you find you peace…' I said, approaching once more. My footsteps weighted tons. The personal Cross that I carry over my shoulders threatened to crush me.

'It wasn't him!' He managed to say but did not move when my silver edge struck his throat, severing his head. Instead, Noel had remained, expecting. His troubled expression shifted into a peaceful once.

'Bastard! You killed him!'

I heard a woman screamed behind me – her anguish cry stunned me, piercing my ears. She must have come out the other coffin, the one I deemed the Earl's and thus empty at the time. I was not able to turn around in time. The vampire leaped on me, pinning me to the floor and disarming me, grasping my wrists and forcing me to release my weapons.

'You dared to slay my servant!' she hissed, her bright green eyes gleamed in wrath. I realized that was Noel's creator and not the Earl. 'Now you will become one instead of him,' she stated, laughing and dipping her head towards my neck. I struggled but her grip was iron.

'A true Helsing doesn't surrender,' I spat, closing my eyes, refusing to tolerate more of her presence. Then as sudden as it came her grip was gone, so was her body, reduced to ashes over me. Her scream had muffled with the skin of my neck.

'Stand, Professor van Helsing,' I heard a disgusting familiar voice calling for me.

Fearing the identity, I opened my eyes and looked up. The Earl was holding my sword on his left hand, grinning devilishly at my position. 'Why?'

'Because if you die now, your family will die out and I will find myself lacking toys to play with.'

'I will destroy your kind, hunt them down as they predate on human beings,' I vowed with a steady voice, meaning every word on it. I would not let anyone experienced what I was forced to deal with.

'You can destroy my kind, Professor,' the Earl stated, bending down to pick me – to drag me roughly on my feet. 'But you cannot touch a single hair on my mane. I just saved your life, you have a debt of honour towards me.'

That arrogant creature, the mere recalling made my teeth grit. How had he the cheek to place such a demand? But he was right, I was vowed by my honour and I would respect my word. 'You…' I trailed off in a loss of words, arms shaking in frustration.

'On the other hand,' the Earl whispered on my ear. 'I reserve the right to hunt your descendants, to end the line and to replace my beloved Noel,' he added petulantly, before laughing and jumping behind. 'Forget me not, Helsing. I will return for your family one day.'

I would never forget his sinister laughter or his chilling promise. The future will not be prosperous. I now dream of gloomy scenarios and the deaths of my loved ones. My family cannot not go unprotected, would have to think of something. It can wait, I have many things to learn about the occult and no family to guard."

-

Integral shut down the journal as she felt the influence vanishing out or mind. She wagered it was because she did what he wanted. That brought an uncomfortable knot in her stomach. She was powerless under his thrall.

_'Indeed you are,'_ she heard his laughter in her head.

"Where are you now, Earl?" Integral rose, leaving the book over the desk. Her fangs clenched, aching to bite his head off. "I know who you are!" He did not say a word more, his laughter lingering, and she rubbed her forearms as if she were cold.

The oath to her grandfather haunted her – his speech sounded like the end.

The laughter would have brought her to the edge, allowing her insecurities to win if she had not grown accustomed to Alucard's.

Integral reached for Abraham's journal, opening to the highlighted passages and attempted to read them again. To her shock, she was barely able to figure out the meaning of the words. It was written in Dutch.

_Him. He has been whispering the tale in my mind the entire time_, she mused, growing more and more annoyed by his actions.

Irritated, Integral left the basement, heading to the outside world that she had abandoned previously. While she ascended the stairs, she vowed to herself that would not allow him a full victory. She would not fall prey to him, her Master, the man with dead grey eyes.

* * *

Authors Notes: I thank to my reviewers for the feedback and to Lyanna Kane for editing this chapter. Next one will have some Iscariot. Reviews/CC/flames are welcomed. 


	6. Government Policies

**Chapter Five**

**- Government Policies**

He lost another game of chess to Phillips; the other man's features brightened when he checked mate, his rugged face seemingly possessed by the light of the youth. And he was glad Phillips was happy, it made the older man forget about the past, about the haunting past battles and the horror that were constant in his dreams at night. Phillips forgot he lacked legs to walk and fight with whenever he won a battle of chess - a fine replacement for the days of glory.

Walter never told Phillips he lost most of the games on purpose as it would have spoiled their happiness.

"Your daughter no longer visits you?" Phillips had asked before his private nurse had taken him to a stroll on the gardens. No matter how many times he had explained that Integral was not his daughter, Phillips insisted on the same. Walter supposed that their relationship outside the organisation was more akin to that carried among a family rather than business.

"She's very ill, her… husband told me the other day."

Phillips had grimaced; Alucard's sinister presence intimidated him. "That man is bad news for her. My daughter no longer visits me because of hers." Walter had been relieved when the nurse had interrupted, taking Phillips away. Denise, that was his nurse' name, had offered to take him along with his roommate, but he had graciously declined, choosing to settle near the window and look to the world outside.

Walter had remained too long in the veteran of wars hospital - too damn long, considering how his body had healed by the end of the fourth month. Her Majesty's messengers had explained to him the importance of keeping a low profile and that this was why he had been sent to this clinic and no other. Some of the patients were fellow framed men, sacrificed to keep the Empire's glory intact and to preserve its immaculate image. Walter had nodded courteously and smiled politely as, in spite of his inner rage, he had to keep calm for Integral's sake. The news of her vampirism and her plight had only increased his bitterness; had he been there, a member of their party, as usual, she would still be human and free of that monster's thrall.

His hands closed into fists, arms trembled in collected anger. Walter reminded himself not to strain his fingers; he had lost most of the dexterity of his left hand during the crash, and with it half of his utility on the battlefield. A "one winged Angel of Death," Alucard had called him months ago.

Walter saw the sun set slowly, the dark starting to spread and the mist of London increasing, a layer of it even entering his humble chambers.

"Is the Angel of Death still too wounded to fly away from its cage?" a basso voice asked as the door shut and locked of own accord. Though Alucard's tone was never friendly, Walter found it that way.

"It's past visiting hours, Lord Alucard," he replied, glancing at the mist as they reformed into a man.

"The visit hours of this death house are for humans, we vampires have a different schedule," Alucard retorted, lips pursed up in one of those infernal smirks that faltered for a second. "And still they keep you here, Walter."

"I am still weak," Walter admitted - he had no strength to walk for a long time. He deemed his hips were no as good as they had once been.

"_They_ are _making_ you weak," the vampire said darkly.

Walter's eyes widened, his eyes falling on the serum and the box of pills over his nightstand. Could that be? Could his constant fatigue be consequence of some drug? "You cannot take me away any longer, Lord Alucard," he said sadly, regretting for not having taken the vampire's previous offers to aid him to escape the hospital. "I am too heavy for you to carry me, old friend," he added, too polite to point out how Alucard's own powers had diminished.

Alucard nodded, taking his hat, realising a mirthless chuckle. "She needs you."

"How is she, Alucard?" Walter asked, forgetting his self-pity in favour of his curiosity for Integral's welfare. He knew she refused to see him in this state, not for shame but for his own safety.

"Her control has been fading slowly ever since she found out her Master's identity," Alucard explained, moving next to him. Walter shut his eyes, perturbed by the foul news; he felt so tired and so…old "She was starting to get out more. Seras and I were following her, to check if it was her will to depart rather than her being controlled by him. She attacked the Police Girl yesterday when she tried to block her way. If I had not been around, she might have wounded Seras gravely."

"Has she killed anyone?"

"Several people, but that is hardly surprising," Alucard said with a hint of pride in his tone. "She's a fierce hunter, we trained her well." Walter shot him a weary look and the vampire's expression shadowed. "But she's our little girl no longer."

"Phillips' stroll must be nearly over by now," Walter stated; he did not want to cause further problems to Integral, she had enough to handle for now.

"Afraid I will provoke his first heart attack?"

"Lord Alucard…"

Alucard chuckled loudly and he started to dissolve into mist. "Remember what I said about their 'medicine,' Angel of Death." Walter heard the door cracking as the nurse opened it, making to enter. The vampire had just poured out the window when Phillips returned from his stroll. He turned to glance at them without interest, his attention focused in Alucard's warnings.

"You are thoughtful tonight," Phillips indicated.

"Just musing on our government's policies on hospital administration, Phillips," Walter assured his roommate and grimaced inwardly when Denise stepped inside, carrying a new jar of pills. "Nothing important," he said, resigned.

-----

She had taken a shower not so long ago. She recalled the softness of the soap, the vanilla scent of her shampoo. Yet why did she find herself wearing blood stained clothes? Why were her clothes tattered? Why was her hair tangled with muck?

Integral Hellsing took another shower and changed into a newly prepared suit. She took a seat at her office, recalling, attempting to type down her recollections of what she had done that day. There were time lapses for which she could not account – between ten thirty and eleven o'clock, around three P.M. and about an hour ago- no matter how hard she thought back, no new memories repaid her effort.

"Bloody hell!" she shut the laptop violently and slammed her left fist on the desk. _It was a few hours ago, I am not supposed to have forgot.._

She did not know what was worse: to suffer from this selective amnesia or to remember the impotent feeling of being controlled against her will. She gritted her teeth, trying hard not to cry in frustration. It was a nightmare how that vampire could keep her under his thumb, an unwilling puppet and a danger for everyone. She hated it, she loathed herself for being such a pathetic hunter to have allowed him to get as close.

_And now I must pay the consequences_, Integral thought, glancing at the remains of Her Majesty's letter that she had received yesterday and been left near her ashtray.

"Alucard," Integral called out, looking towards the right corner of her room, to the mist concealed by the shadows. "For how long have you been there?"

_'Since you returned,'_ Alucard replied inside her mind. _'I talked to Walter. He also resents your pathetic human government policies.'_

Integral pinched her nose, attempting to collect herself. She could not break down, not now, not when she was so close to finding out the dear 'Earl''s current alias. "Have faith in Her Majesty," she said, sounding wearier than she had intended to. "She has supported my actions so insofar."

_'That may very well change…'_ Alucard stated, venomously. She had no opportunity to argue his lack of confidence as someone knocked at her twice. Her sharpened senses of smell and hearing indicated it was Seras Victoria long before the girl had spoken.

"Sir Hellsing, Her Majesty's emissaries are here."

"Let them pass, Officer," Integral shot a warning look at the shadows as she rose to greet the two agents. They took off their hats and bowed, sporting a serious expression. "Gentlemen, it is an honour to received your visits twice this week."

"I am afraid we carry foul news this time," the slimmer one confessed as his shorter companion offered her another letter branded "confidential".

Integral accepted the envelope and opened it, reading the note carefully. _Twice_. Making certain those ill words were real and not another nightmare. She sat down, overwhelmed by her grief and she tried to hold her self-control so not to rug the paper or lung towards them in a blind rage. "Is this her final word?"

-----

Seras Victoria wasn't intent to eavesdrop. She was just waiting outside to open the door for the gentlemen, that was all. The rest of the personnel had grown terrified of Integral and none dared to come close to her now. With Walter in the hospital, she had had to assume a butler role of sorts. She had not meant to accidentally listen on the conversation Sir Hellsing and the emissaries had been holding but, damn, when would they stop being so cryptic? She had no notion of what they were referring to and the suspense was killing her.

_Sir Hellsing sounds stressed_, Seras noted, feeling billions of butterflies inside her stomach. It must mean those where truly bad news, if her leader outwardly displayed any grief, however minimal. Her conscience was disturbed by what had happened recently.

Alucard had suggested that she follow Integral around on that particular day instead of plain stopping her, as usual. He had thought it might be worth the experience, if it meant learning what the blazes she was doing. And Seras had been naïve enough as to think her task would be easy. She had lost track of Integral; for one reason or the other, the staff had required her aid just when Integral had chosen to do her little vanishing routine, only to return quite bloodied. She had failed her boss and her Master andcould not explain it.

_'You can ask for forgiveness later, Police Girl,'_ her Master's voice rung deep in her mind. _'Now open the door, they are eager to return before becoming the main dish.'_

Seras gasped, snapping from her worries and noticing the firm knocks on the wooden door. Embarrassed, she leaned off and opened the gates. "I am sorry, sirs," she apologized, lowering her gaze. "I was distracted."

"Good evening," they bid farewell, tipping their hats and ushering to the exit without awaiting her guidance.

"Officer Victoria," Integral addressed her from her seat. Seras turned and examined the woman; there was such a hopeless expression on her face, one whose liking she had never seen before. There was no anger, no flames ignited inside her eyes. "Come in and close the door."

"Yes, Sir," Seras nodded and complied, side glancing at the shadows where her Master was hidden. "Is there anything you need?"

"Take a seat, Miss Victoria," Integral gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk. "The Government has dictated new policies regarding our organisation."

-----

It was a dream to him, a dream come true. Enrico Maxwell smiled widely to his mysterious informant over the phone, a grin of a true spawn of the devil. "And you swear this information is reliable?" he questioned, just as Father Renaldo attempted to track the man's number to no avail.

There was a pause until Maxwell added, "Then these are great news indeed! God has finally sent His divine punishment upon that sow!" his tone was trembling, exhilarated. "I suspected something was happening to the heretics as they had been maintaining a low profile, less prolific than usually, but… this? This is better than I thought! May our Lord reward you for your kindness, brother," he bid him farewell and hung up. His green eyes focused on the older priest, who shook his head. He did not know who the gossiper was but that did not matter, it would not spoil his mood.

"Get me Anderson, now," Maxwell, waiting to obtain his new cell phone number and the country code. He had dispatched him on a special mission in Chile, a simple matter of trash disposal. Minor plagues could wait for them should they stop the biggest threats. Renaldo handed him the new number and Enrico dialed it, tapping his digits on the desk as his patience wore thin.

"Father Anderson?"Maxwell asked when he was finally attended. "Finish that assignment as soon you can and go to London to meet Sisters Takagi and Heinkel," he ordered, licking his lips as a sadistic glee shone in his eyes. "New heretic government policies, Father. The Hellsing Organisation has just been disbanded."

* * *

Edited by Lyanna Kane and StrangeSingaporean! Thanks for the feedback so far. 


	7. Broken Defences

**Chapter Six**

**- Broken Defences **

Her dreams were obtuse. She could never figure out whom the silhouettes were supposed to represent, what world she was inside in until she would find herself in a lone room, so narrow and dark. There were two black coffins lids closed and were bleeding, literately. The crimson liquid was pouring inside out, dripping to the floor, slowly filling the chamber she was in. Just before she was about to drown, Seras Victoria always awoke, agitated and sweating despite her undead status. She felt hunger, the thirst for blood and due to the perturbing nightmares, she wished she would be able to eat kidney pie instead.

_C'mon, don't be stupid. Master will scowl at you if he sees you like this_, Seras thought, pinching her nose to awake herself fully. It was still morning, and even though she could move in the daylight, her body was notably weaker, sluggish when compared to her nightly vigour. Conquering the stiffness, Seras got out, slowly moving to the empty table. _No one brought my blood supplies?_ It was quite odd, the staff did not fear her.

"My baby! My baby! Please, stop!"

"Help! Someone, help us!"

Seras froze, listening to the rattle on the floor above. Screams, gunshots, cries of help, and sobs. She realized why she was so thirsty, the smell of blood was penetrating. "Oh God," she brought a hand to her mouth, her brain working in on the implications. "Sir Integral!" she exclaimed, storming out of the room and rushing upstairs. _Please God, please, I don't want to be too late_, she kept repeating, holding prayers for everyone's life.

On her way up, she barely dodged the corpse of the maid that was on the staircase. Her neck had been twisted and she was holding the blood supplies. Seras tore her eyes away from her, knowing she was beyond her help. "Sir Integral, stop!" she shouted, freezing in her tracks. Integral Hellsing was wearing a ragged blue pyjamas stained with blood; her expression was blank, not feral, just empty, clearly a mark that she was being controlled. At her feet were five bodies, all lacking heartbeats, three of which carried revolvers, explaining the gunshots she had heard. The baby in her arms kept sobbing - Integral's hands were squeezing the life out him very slowly.

"She's not _Sir_ Integral anymore," Seras heard her say as she thought of ways to approach her boss without damaging either her or the baby. The tone, though the words were spoken by Integral, had a different accent, bearing far less of the curst British taint. Dead grey eyes flickered in her direction. "Just Miss Hellsing. How far has her mind fallen..."

"You son of a bitch!" Seras growled, unable to hold her tongue, her red eyes nearly glowing in rage. She understood how delicate their position was without the government's sponsorship. Especially now that Integral had killed innocents under her own household. "This amuses you? You are nothing but a heartless monster!" _Keep saying cliché phrases, keep distracting him_, she thought, _Master, where are you?_

'Integral' laughed, her grip on the child loosening, which was a relief for Seras Victoria. "The greatest! One that was never thwarted, unlike your Master! He didn't deserve his fame. I tamed his captors instead."

"Master is a thousand times better than you!" Seras snapped, narrowing her eyes. "To start with, he doesn't hide behind Sir Hellsing and a baby! Are you so great a coward that you won't speak with us directly?"

The laughter ceased. Seras hoped that had stung the monster's pride enough as for him to do something stupid. "You'll see me soon," was the only answer before the child was thrown out, towards the window.

"No!" Seras exclaimed, leaping to save the infant. The glass shattered and she sensed the mother fainting behind her. She could not bear to see it, she shut her eyes tightly in impotence and anger.

"Seras, Police Girl, open your eyes."

Seras complied and saw Alucard, standing annoyed under the rays of the sun, holding the bloodied baby. He was lapping at him, closing his wounds before passing to her. "He'll live. Take the brat and his mother away. I will take care of Integral."

Seras nodded, dumbfounded and picked up the shocked baby. "Thank you," she muttered.

"I didn't do it for his pity human life," Alucard growled in response but she smiled. Her Master was nobler than he gave credit for, regardless of how he acted. She turned around and noticed the surviving staff, peering to check if everything was solved.

"You may come out," Seras assured with a firm nod, "Situation under control."

"Under control!" Integral shouted behind her. Seras gazed at her, her heart sinking to see the strong and steely woman on her knees, digits touching her bloodied lips as she madly surveyed the cadavers circling her. "What a joke, Officer Victoria! This will never be in control until…" she gritted her teeth, silencing herself. Her voice was so frustrated, so strained. "I nearly killed a baby!"

"Sir Integral…" Seras addressed, not knowing what to say, how to aid her. She wanted to comfort her. She saw her Master walking towards Integral and picking her up with a solemn expression.

"The call from Sir Islands was a trick," she heard him murmur in Integral's ear. "He wanted me out of here." Sir Hellsing nodded numbly and kept her gaze down. Then he caught Seras' curious glance, "I said I will help her, Police Girl. Focus on aiding the personnel instead."

"Yes, Master," Seras replied, disheartened at being left out again. No matter how hard she tried, both her Master and Sir Hellsing managed to close themselves in an inner circle. Pushing away her envy, she knelt and tried to awake the unconscious mother. It was a fortune she had not suffered a heart attack.

"Officer Victoria," Integral addressed her as Alucard carried her upstairs. Her voice was so low, she could barely perceive it. "After you finish, you may join us." Seras looked up, unable to contain her happiness but then she also looked at her Master, seeking approval.

Alucard snorted and shook his head, "Yes, you may come, Police Girl."

"I will!" Seras answered, beaming. It was selfish of her, to think of her personal comfort when so many had died, but she felt so damned alone and she was aware that they would shred that solitude. "Oh and Master…"

"What?"

"Sir Integral's Mas-Creator told me that it is possible we may see him soon," Seras told him, correcting herself on the fiend's title. Alucard's expression turned feral, the thirst of battle awaking.

"I will be waiting for him then, anxious to meet him for the first and last time."

Seras trusted her Master to set things right. He would solve everything for sure. She saw the mother awakening and reuniting with her son. Wounded and scared as both were, they were family and remained together in times of trial. _So should we_, she thought before meeting his Master and leader in Integral's chambers.

----

He preferred not to leave her side now, he could not risk that maggot to manipulate Integral's mind again. To twist her control into his whims. Seras had told him what the filth had spoken through his former Master's lips and because of this information, reunited with what he had found out with Abraham's lost journal, Alucard could understand the good Earl's motives. He was challenging him, Integral was a means to display his defeat as the protector to this family.

"There's nothing I can say or do to convince you to stay?" Integral asked, glancing at the oldest member of her staff. An old chef and doctor by the name of Trevellian.

"You don't need my services anymore, Sir Integral," Trevallian pointed out, smiling sadly. "What use could the undead have of a doctor?"

The chef shook his head, "No matter how much you pay, sir, and withstanding the affection I held to your mission. I won't return until the Organisation is legal again and its leader isn't controlled by the enemy."

Alucard wanted to gut the fat, old man to have spat such things on Integral's face, but she seemed to accept them, no matter how intensely she bled inside.

"Very well, I will try to have the honoraries for years of services ready for Monday."

"Good afternoon, Sir Integral, Alucard," Trevallian bid farewell and inclined his head. Both were gone, shutting the door behind them. A taxi had been called to pick them up. The Mansion was still: no more heartbeats or noises nervous feet on the floor, no more murmurs or voices. Alucard recalled his lonely castle where he had no company but his cruel Brides; he started missing what he had once found annoying.

_How disgustingly human of me_, Alucard scolded himself, his expression not changing outwardly. He loved to appear relaxed, with an obnoxious smirk gracing his features. He suspected that, despite their supposed irritation, Integral and Seras liked that too, that symbol of how not everything changed. "Well, we have the entire Mansion to ourselves now," he stated, giving a lazy stretch to the arms.

"Could you take this with some seriousness, Alucard?" Integral turned to glare at him. Despite her anger, what Alucard saw reflected in her eyes was hurt. "Just this once?"

"We won't forsake you, Sir Hellsing!" Seras Victoria exclaimed from Integral's left. She had been quiet all the time, waving sadly at the departing personnel. "And when Walter comes out from the hospital in a few months, he will help us."

"Thank you, Officer Victoria," Integral replied grimly, "But I don't share your positive outlook of the situation. Perhaps if I was certain of my control over my own body, things would be different."

_Since when does Seras look on the positive side?_ Alucard mused, watching the two women's interaction. He was both glad that they had set aside any tension and weary that they should grow too close and excluded him from everything. Noises from behind the door, footsteps on the foyer, someone walking though lacking the vital signals of the living. "Intruder!" he exclaimed, euphoric to taste the battle coming. Pulling out his Casull, he aimed towards the door, anticipating it until Integral blocked the way.

"Sir Integral!" Seras exclaimed, not bothering to veil her concern. He did not scowl at her, her worry was not misplaced. Integral's body was trembling, her gaze was troubled, she was fighting for control. Suddenly, the scent of the intruder hit him, the stench that Integral had carried the night when she had been changed into a vampire.

"Seras, restrain her, I need to take the trash down," Alucard ordered, lips curling up into a sinister grin. He pushed Integral into his fledgling's arms; the two women struggled with each other and while Integral was more feral, Seras had an edge on physical strength. He was about to kick the door down when the intruder knocked, twice. Was he that daft? Giving out his position for him to easily shoot his limbs off?

"Greetings," the voice came out from behind the gates, cultured and lacking a determinate accent. "I told Miss Victoria I was going to pay a visit to you. Now, Mr. Dracula, you really should lower that gun and open the door. Keep in mind that I won't be alone to suffer the damage done to my body."

"My gun, my good Earl? How can you imagine we would ever be such rude hosts?"

"You forget, I have a pair of two lovely eyes that are watching your movements, Count," he put it mildly. Alucard turned to gaze at Integral, who had calmed down in Seras' hold, grey eyes staring at him, waiting.

"The door is unlocked. I am not your manservant," Alucard snapped, holstering his Casull. He could not wait until Walter was out the hospital to repair his Jackal. He took a step back when the knob was lowered, and soon a pale man with sharp features and dead grey eyes emerged from the outside. He smiled at him, caught between smugness and politeness. Alucard leered and put himself in front of Seras and Integral, shielding what did not belong to the upstart. "Lord Ruthven," he addressed him, shielding his ill emotions with a detached amusement.

"Ah Dracula," he bowed, "Then you aren't an illiterate beast after all. You have read other classics aside for Stoker's so called masterpiece. Or maybe it was the sweet lady Hellsing who guessed where the Earl of Marsden was from."

_Jealous of my fame among mortals?_ Alucard smirked mentally, noticing the contempt in his tone. "Perhaps it's you who lacks in culture. The Irishman was clear about how I learnt English from reading books."

"Point taken," Ruthven stated petulantly, waving off the issue altogether. "Don't hide such beautiful ladies behind you, my dear Count."

"Yes, Master," Seras spoke, snarling as she held Integral tightly. "How else will I punch him if you are blocking my way?"

"Charming flower you have chosen," Ruthven pointed out, approaching, circling under his careful gaze. "I am not worry about you, Miss Victoria. You are tainted, no matter how much you try to hold on to your humanity. You chose this life, didn't you? That woman you are holding is more innocent than you."

His words were poisonous but true. Alucard knew Seras had understood what he was when she had chosen vampirism, that was why he was irritated at her constant denial. Ruthven's lack of tact was a blow to Seras. She visible displayed that as her grip on Integral loosened.

"I am stronger, I can protect and serve better!"

Ruthven let go to a soft laugh, licking his lips with a malign light in his eyes. "Can you? Could you save your team mates from Iscariot? From the Valentine Brothers? From Incognito's forces? From Integral herself? What about Helena and that MI-5 agent? You couldn't even help your Master properly! According to the reports given to the Queen, those clips you delivered him were employed to harm him."

"No…" Seras' voice was low, tiny; she took a few steps back, and her eyes were moistening in tears. Integral set herself free, but did not move. Her eyes were aware for a moment, glaring silently at her Master.

"But it's the truth, it's all written down in the files I have accessed, the losses. You just accepted vampirism because you were afraid to die. Were you truly worried about the others, you wouldn't be acting so ridiculously pathetic," Ruthven spat, mockingly. Alucard noted how convincing he was, a quality he would have admired if the vampire had not crossed his path.

"It's not true! You are-"

"Lying? Look at this," Ruthven touched Integral's shoulder, pushing a strand behind her ear. "You couldn't even stop her from come to me. You _always_ arrive too late."

Alucard knew when enough was enough; making Seras face the reality of her condition was one thing, but destroying her completely was not among his plans. She looked like someone had wounded her mortally; those words had pierced deeply her defences. "Don't you have anything better to do than insult my fledgling?" He wanted to move against him, to rip out his tongue, although he could not, he had Integral as hostage.

"Perhaps I have a couple of better things to do with my servant, since yours is out of reach," Ruthven murmured, combing Integral's strands. "But destroying them is very amusing, breaking these women to pieces. The stronger they are, the more delicious are their falls. I used to think you would agree with me. But being a guardian dog affected your mind, Count."

"A dog, am I now?" Alucard asked, removing his sunglasses to meet his eyes. He tried to hypnotise him, perhaps he could make him donate blood to Integral and resolve their problems, but the block he found, the resistance took him by surprise. He grabbed his head, in pain of the shock he had sent that had returned to him. "You…"

"You may be superior in fists brawls, Count but I am superior in mental games in more ways than one," Ruthven elaborated, Alucard wanted to protest but the other vampire's voice enthralled and penetrated him in a way no one had done before. He could not help but _listen_ and hold up his words, whatever they were. "How else would I have had such a fine control over the first of my progeny?" he smirked and kissed Integral's neck, making her shudder. "So weak under my thumb, the mighty Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing! And you are an utter failure, Dracula. Look at you, defeated by the man I ruined, and given the simple task of protecting and serving his family from me. A duty you failed miserably at as well, didn't you?"

Alucard could not stand for such words, would not allow him to insult his pride; he took the Casull out again and nearly pulled the trigger, when Seras leaped at him, pinning him to the ground. "Stop, Master! You'll hurt Sir Integral!" she pledged, and his grip on the Casull lessened as he nodded, glancing at the fledgling on the top of him.

"See Dracula. Women are whores, they jump on men at the simplest excuse," Ruthven laughed to Seras' embarrassment. She stood up, tucking her skirt down and looked at him apologetically.

"I am sorry, Master."

"Don't be sorry, Police Girl," Alucard rose after her, straightening his coat. "Only a fool complains when a pretty woman jumps over him. And unlike Ruthven, I renounced forcing them a century ago."

Ruthven laughed, leaving Integral's side to lean on a wall. "I never forced mine. Integral is special, an exception. She wouldn't be shamed by sex, after all… That would not ruin her."

"And vampirism did?" Integral asked, spitefully. She had retained her control and turned to glance at Ruthven. "I should destroy you, Ruthven. No matter if it takes me with you."

"Vampirism? No that isn't what I mean," Ruthven shook his head and Integral felt his hands over her breasts, folding them through the suit. She swallowed hard as she kept her glance on him. Alucard was about to jump onto his throat if he continued with the humiliation. "That's your greatest fall, losing control absolutely to me, you know that very well. And even if I am destroyed and you survive, my last command will linger in your mind," he cleared up, half in warning, half in taunt. "My bloodline has a strong hold in minds and wills."

"Make your point Ru-Master!" Integral demanded. Alucard tasted how hopelessly she was to utter that word aloud. He made her say it. "What have you come here for, aside from bragging about your victory and putting it in our faces?"

"I want many things," Ruthven stated, tapping his chin, "I want Dracula to admit that I am the best vampire out of us two, for starts. I want his fledgling to serve my needs for the night. And most importantly, I want you, my Sleeping Beauty, to become my travel partner in Noel's place. Admit my superiority of your own accord."

Alucard lifted a brow, _Pretentious little thing, I won't lie to appease his jealousy_. He chuckled before proving unable to hold his laughter any further. "Blackmailing us? Is that the best you can do, punk?" he asked, disappointed. Even the old vampires were immature. "Perhaps we are failures, as you stated but you are one yourself. Even if you surpass us the mortal world would hold me as an icon, and you? Your tale will be dusting in libraries."

"I cannot protect them as you said," Seras took the word, "But I _can_ protect myself at least. I wouldn't shag you even if I were mad."

"Unless you plan to control me as far as following you in those trips, _Ruthven_," Integral answered, placing an emphasis on his name, making Alucard proud of the fact that she was able to fight his mind control a bit. "I rather don't expect to indulge in another second in your disgusting company. I didn't like you when I was human and I thought you were one as well, and I certainly loathe you now."

Ruthven grimaced, his grey eyes turning as cold as the ice. "So be it then. You have sealed your fates," he took a step towards the exit before pausing, glancing at Integral. "You can still come with me," he offered again. Alucard's smirk widened when his former Master did not even deem him worthy of a response. "Very well, this will be a déjà vu then," he nodded, continuing on his path. "Don't gloat for 'standing me up'," he advised as he kept on walking. "Because your bravado is a mask to your insecurities. A last scream of your fading ego. Tonight, you'll look at each other carefully and this empty Mansion and my words will sink in. Make no mistake, you three are utter failures. Good evening," With that final message, Ruthven turned and bowed, closing the door behind him.

"Good grief," Alucard said when Ruthven left, but neither Seras nor Integral replied. All was quiet, with only the sounds of the forest and the retreating footsteps breaking the stillness in the atmosphere. He kept smiling, despite his inner conflict, the turmoil of emotions he would never admit he felt: insecurity.

He glanced at Seras and knew what she was thinking: failure to protect those she had promised to serve.

Alucard now looked at Integral, and from her trembling fists, he wagered what she was feeling: failure for not keeping the dignity and control she was supposed to inhere.

_And me_, Alucard pondered, lowering his immense hat to conceal his pensive mood, _I failed to guard the one I vowed to obey._ A single vampire had come, waltzing into their lives and, without firing a single bullet, had broken their defences completely. He could not help but laugh in pure bitterness.

----

Ruthven was torn after he left the place. He felt like he had obtained no more than half a victory as he walked out of the foyer and towards the waiting car at the edge of Epping Forest - he disliked being a loser, even partly. His mental powers had granted him a fairly quick, yet fleeting victory.

Dracula was too self-centred to block him, believing himself superior in all areas, the childish git. Integral was at his mercy, and that police woman was easy to impress. Even if they did not fall apart completely, they would never forget the humiliation at his hands, nor how he had changed their feelings and guided their thoughts to a half truth concealed in lies. But the triumph was not complete; he departed alone and not with his chosen companion at his side.

_It seems I have the same bad fortune as before with potential travel companions,_ Ruthven thought with detached amusement, extracting a cell phone after entering his vehicle and starting the engine. He dialled up the Customs number, where the Iscariots had been detained for carrying weapons without both the government's permission and the assorted paperwork.

"Noel Aubrey here," he greeted, employing another of his aliases, this one in honour of two former victims. "Allow the clergymen to pass," his voice rolled with convincing power into the human mind he was speaking to. "Return their weapons to them as soon as possible, with Her Majesty's blessings." He hung up, driving away from the place. Luck evaded him in this area, Integral would be the second potential partner he lost to the Catholics' hands.

* * *

Author's Notes: Edited by Lyanna Kane, Goh Si Jia and Dreadnot (thank you girls). Lord Ruthven/ Earl of Marsden belongs to Doctor Polidori. He's the vampire of his tale: "The Vampyre." A work previous to Dracula and the model for the male aristocratic vampire. 


	8. Madhouse

**Chapter Seven  
- Madhouse**

Integral looked at the shut doors of her chambers with a wary expression then glanced over the closed windows. She had locked herself inside her quarters since Ruthven's visit yesterday; all exits were assured she would not escape or at least to found difficulties to get out. Deprived of her jacket and clothed with her trousers and her white shirt, she had tried to explore her mind powers and what the tainted blood coursing inside her system offered.

Neither Alucard or Seras had come to see her or stop her hermit impulse yet; Integral supposed the three needed time to reevaluate themselves, to fight her Maker's mind control. She had wanted to speak aloud the defeat they tasted was artificial, it was the same wrenching sensation she had experienced since she was turned into a vampire. A helpless, infuriating weakness grown by his mental whispers in her subconscious.

Her thoughts were scattered, the memories of what Ruthven did to her the night she was dead to the world distracted Integral from her quest to obtain power. She recalled his hands, his body pressing to her and wondered how she was capable to remember the cold of his touch if she was numb. A shiver crossed her spine, she stood to walk to the window, moving the curtain to look through it.

_It's not my memory, it's what he wants me to feel_, Integral thought, her fists were shaking, containing the urge to shatter the glass, to pierce her hand and taste the pain. This was real, she was in her room and no one was controlling her, thus her body was at her commands. She stopped and looked at the floor; there was a thin layer of dust already accumulating on the marble, and her sight detected it. _My enhanced senses allow me to see how much I need my maids back, pity my condition will detain me to hire new ones. _

She turned around and pressed her forehead on the window, her flesh was colder than the glass but it soothed her, it made her mind forget for a second before the footsteps in the corridor interrupted Integral's peace. "I don't want to see anyone," she said.

"Lady Integral," Seras called, her tone lacked the usual chipper quality; it had become demure. "Master gave me instructions to deliver your meal while he's gone."

"Where is he?" Integral asked, demanding. Why he did not tell her about his absence? _Alucard chooses the most inopportune moments to respect my wish of privacy._

"Master went to see Walter," Seras explained. "He's concerned about him being an easy target for Ruthven with his weakened state. And to ask him questions; he has a feeling you and your grandfather weren't the only Hellsings Ruthven came across before."

Integral paused at that statement. It could be possible and she was wary to find out if Ruthven indeed had crossed his paths with her beloved father. What a disappointment if he could resist and fight back when she could not. "I will wait until his return to re-" A crack noise interrupted her. Looking over her shoulder, Integral saw Seras Victoria entering to her room, her hair strands obscured her eyes as she carried a blood bag. "How did you enter! I locked the door myself!"

Seras blinked, meeting her grey gaze with her red eyes. "It was open, Sir. I just lowered the doorknob."

"I see…" Integral trailed off, lost for a terrible instant. She had locked it, she had put the key in her nightstand drawer, she knew, she remembered! Ignoring Seras' dumbfounded expression, she rushed to check the first drawer of said furniture. Tossing aside the paper and the handgun she kept there, found nothing. "Where is the key!" she demanded to know, mildly hysteric. Her fangs elongated, her long hair was ruffled, giving her a frightening aspect.

Seras carefully shut the door; there was a soft slam. "Here, Sir," she replied, her voice was slow, clearly to avoid disturbing her further. The key was on the lock, twisted to open it.

Integral stared in disbelief, violently shutting the drawer and sitting on the mattress, hands on her face. How? When did she unlock the door? "I bloody locked the door, I am sure. I did that and placed the key in this drawer. I remember that, officer Victoria!" There was no response on Seras' part, Integral rose and faced the former policewoman. "Don't pity me, Seras. I lost too much to lose your respect as well."

"I don't pity you, Lady Integral!" Seras exclaimed, embracing herself. "I pity myself. This is my fault! I couldn't even protect you from doing this. I arrived too late. I couldn't gather courage to face you before, Sir. My God, Ruthven is right, I only think in my welfare. I am so-"

"Naïve to believe his rubbish!" Integral stopped her, she found it troublesome to utter the words but less so than before. It was possible Ruthven had lessened his control. _No doubt I'll amuse him better_, she mused grimly, afraid that at the mere glimpse of hope it would be taken away from her. "He's controlling your mind, Seras. His poisonous words are lies, he's employing your fear against yourself. I know because he has been torturing me for a while."

Seras seemed to calm herself, forcing a half smile on her lips. "I must have appeared a prat, Sir."

"No, Seras Victoria," Integral shook her head, correcting her with a sardonic tone, "Just human as much vampires could be. Vulnerable." She took the bag from her hands, nipping a side of the plastic, perforating a neat hole to drink from. "You shouldn't be ashamed of anything, it's not you who locked herself away because she's waiting to be controlled again."

"Lady Integral, don't say that, you just want to protect us," Seras told her as Integral sipped the bag. She hated to drink transfusion blood, it tasted like watered tea - cheap.

_Or to protect me from myself_, Integral thought; her cold meal and conversation were over soon. The alarms resounded in the empty halls of the Hellsing headquarters. "Seras Victoria!" she exclaimed, watching the girl ran outside her room and consequently shutting the door. Before she lunged at it, there was a click on the other side, her key was taken away. "Seras! Open the door or I will throw it!" she warned. _What is she thinking?_

"You'll have to throw all doors," Seras replied at the other side. "I will check this Sir. I won't allow anyone else to get harmed for my incompetence. Drink the blood!"

"Seras Victoria!" Integral exclaimed, breaking the knob with her strong grip but there was no response; only her departing footsteps could be heard beneath the alarms.

----

"Damn it all!" Yumi cursed aloud as the alarms resounded through the installations.

"We should have waited, Father Anderson and attack at dusk as we were instructed. We are here to spy the movements and check if the rumours were true," Heinkel stated, spitting her finished cigarette to her feet while glancing at her partner through half lowered spectacles. "But your anxiety got the best of us. Now we have been discovered."

Yumi laughed briefly, returning Heinkel's calm gaze with a maniacal look. "Better to send the damned to hell quickly. We don't need Anderson."

_Father Maxwell begs to differ_, Heinkel protested mentally but nonetheless followed Yumi as she approached the Mansion. What was done, was done, now they would fix their clumsiness. She would have rather taken care of terrorists, and not vampires. Yumi stopped suddenly and forced her body to the ground, fairly squishing her head in the process. "What?"

"Ssh. Someone is coming," she urged, narrowing her dark eyes. Heinkel grunted in response and kept her gaze focused on the threshold of the Mansion. The door opened and a young woman exited, carrying an enormous rocket launcher with her. Yumi could not repress her craving for battle any longer and leaped to her feet to charge. Lucky for her companion, the vampire girl was frozen in surprise, red eyes widened at the sight of them.

_Not what she expected_, Heinkel seized their chances against the mighty gunpowder and stood with alacrity, firing at her calves with her twin Desert Eagles. The silver bullets hit accurately and the vampire shrieked as she collapsed, giving Yumi time enough to partly slice her weapon with her sword. While the cut on the cannon was not too deep, any attempt to use it would risk instant explosion. "Yumi, get out of the way," she stated, "Let me return this Nosferatu concubine back to hell."

"Iscariot! But you are women!" the girl exclaimed on the ground, her legs useless due to the wounds in her knees. Yumi lowered her katana and moved back next to Wolfe.

"The Church service doesn't recognise the gender but the faith," Heinkel said business like, preparing herself to give her a parting prayer when a strong noise interrupted her. She looked up towards her right, one of the windows had been shattered from the inside and someone just leaped from it. A tall, long haired woman. Integral Hellsing just had fallen to the ground, a few meters from their position. Her legs were shaking, still not stable from the fall and there were bruises and shards of glass on her skin.

"Sir Hellsing!" the girl shouted.

"The chief would like me to bring her head," Yumi proclaimed with a smirk as Heinkel turned to aim at the newcomer with one of her Desert Eagles, the other one aimed towards the vampire girl, her finger firmly on the trigger. She froze, feeling the other woman's cold grey eyes on her own.

_'Stop her now! Get away from my mansion and return where you came!'_ the Protestant cow's orders rang deep in her skull, forcibly, directing her to lower her weapons. She gritted her teeth, attempting to resist the assault first but the battle was lost before it started. Her voice was impossible to ignore. She pulled up the gun and shot to the air.

"Stop Yumi!" Heinkel felt her lips uttering to her horror. Her companion paused her charging to the wounded Hellsing who was making her way to the girl favouring her left leg. "We will return later; let them anticipate their defeat." Even if her body smiled and acted like nothing was wrong, Wolfe Heinkel was struggling inside against the strings that controlled her as a marionette.

Yumi blinked and glanced down the Hellsing and the younger girl, aiding each other to walk towards the building. "Fine, say your prayers, monsters. We'll return."

_'Act normal, nod and get out, not looking back. Then forget what I did to you,'_ the Hellsing directed to the helpless Heinkel who caught a glimpse of both vanishing inside the Mansion before walking out and complying to her instructions.

----

Walter wiped off sweat from his forehead before turning to Alucard while both watched the landscape outside his hospital window. The vampire had paid his old friend a visit, fearing a move from Ruthven against him. He was certain the punk planned something big and he would not allow him to wound them worse than they were.

"No one visited me aside you, Lord Alucard," Walter assured him with a smile. "You don't have to worry about me. You should take care of Miss Victoria and Sir Hellsing instead." He made a pause, seemingly deep in thought.

"What is it?" Alucard asked.

"Your description of Ruthven…" Walter trailed off. "I think… years ago, there was a man who resembled him. But no, it's impossible." Alucard turned, suddenly interested. "An old acquaintance of Arthur in Oxford, an exchange student from Wales, he said. He introduced him to his merry… hobby, or so Sir Islands used to scoff about but their friendship broke apart."

"I don't remember him."

"I met him when I was introduced to the Round Table after the war and then there was a private gathering. He was apparently very important inside the government," Walter explained. "You were on a mission. He never came to the Mansion when you were free…"

Alucard leaned on the wall, in deep pondering. "He was afraid." What better way to get the rid of the guardian dog but put him into sleep? _Coward worm. Fearing to face me!_

"Probably. I have always wondered why Arthur started treating you worse, motivating your rebellion," Walter rubbed his chin. "It didn't make sense, not when Arthur sought to settle down."

"Ruthven," Alucard hissed, despising the other vampire even more. He should be glad to have found such worthy adversary but one thing was fighting him directly and another to attack his Hellsings. They were his to guard; to think that he had failed not only with Integral but also with Arthur stung his pride. "That scum. He must have hid Abraham's notes and warnings then."

"He also struck a friendship with Richard, thirty years ago," Walter pointed out, nodding in agreement. "Richard who had never been interested in directing Hellsing suddenly changed his mindset."

Alucard's eyes flashed at the mention of that. Richard's betrayal had shocked him when he stirred. People changed through the years but he recalled him as deeply affectionate towards Arthur and the family. "Be careful as long you remain in the clinic, Walter. We don't know what that maggot is-" he warned then paused, feeling a sharp pain through his tie with Seras. _Police Girl, calm down. I am going_, he told her mentally, soothing. "I must go, the Mansion has been attacked," he growled in frustration for leaving his resting place.

"Be careful, Lord Alucard," Walter bid farewell as the vampire shifted to mist with difficulty. Daylight weakened his powers but he would make an effort to strain himself, night was not far after all. He poured himself through the London streets, travelling as far he could, passing the woods and a departing black vehicle with two women who came from the Mansion's direction.

They smelled to blood and gunpowder. Their weapons reeked of holy.

_Catholics._ Alucard repressed his urge to attack them to continue his path. He would not fail to guard Hellsing this time.

After a few minutes, Alucard reached the Mansion. It was dark mostly and the alarms were not deactivated and kept ringing. He noted the traces of battles, blood on the ground, Integral's and Seras' along with shards of glass and the now useless Harkonnen. He acquired solid form inside the house and followed the scents of both women to locate them in Seras' room. His fledgling was laying on her coffin bed, drinking a blood bag, Integral sat in front of her, taking out shards of glass from her skin and hair.

"Integral, Seras," he interrupted their silence. "What happened?"

"Catholics attacked while you were gone," Integral informed him, "Iscariots. We were lucky Anderson wasn't among them."

Seras stopped drinking and looked at her Master apologetically. "I am sorry, Master. I thought there was a vampire attack, and then I saw those girls and couldn't bring myself to harm them. I wasn't expecting..." Alucard's expression grimaced and he approached, grabbing her by the shoulders in a painful grip. "Master!" she winced.

"Shut up and listen carefully, fool!" Alucard snarled. "We aren't protected by the Queen anymore. Integral and myself are murderers and while we cannot be disposed by the human laws, Iscariot has free hunting pass to finish with our lives. Do not hesitate next time. They won't." Seras gulped, nodding slightly frightened as he eased his grip. "How did you get the rid of them?"

"I was practicing my powers early on," Integral replied while struggling with a small piece of glass in her left breast. She flinched and took it out. Her regeneration seemed to be slower than Seras'. "I couldn't control the nun's mind, it was broken in two but the one dressed as priest was my first subject. Without proper weapons or you with us, I decided it was wiser to not engage in combat with them in our state."

Alucard smirked, Integral seemed to overcome the depression at least, Iscariot intervention brought something good at least.

"Alucard," Integral paused, looking at him a bit lost. "Anderson will return with them. We have no working defences. They could come back while we rest."

Alucard looked at both women, releasing Seras who collapsed on the bed. "We need a new home then. One to protect us until we regain our strength."

"Any idea?" Integral asked, lifting her brow, straightening in the chair even if clearly pained her. "I cannot be around people, I am… unsure if I can be trusted."

"We could go to my apartment, Master," Seras offered, trying to be helpful.

"Too small, not good for a combat in case of an attack," Alucard shook his head, lips curling up into a twisted smile. "We all are crazy here, aren't we?" he asked to the other two who exchanged glances. "An abandoned madhouse can host the insane."

"Carfax Asylum," Integral finished his thoughts.

"We can use the underground path your father built near your old cell during the second war," Alucard proposed, recalling the system of tunnels that took them deep in the woods in case of bombs hitting the Mansion. It was closed but they could open it again. "Recover yourself, ladies. We need to pack and leave, don't take too long."

Upon saying that, Alucard left. He was going to organize the things they would need. Carfax Asylum, it sprung memories he would rather forget, chased by mortals again. He never thought he would see the day again.

* * *

Author's Notes: This was edited by Ciarda Rois. Thank you for all the feedback so far, any comment is appreciated. 


End file.
